Dragons Within: The Next Evolution
by nightdragon0
Summary: Digimon disguised as Humans. Humans that become Digimon hybrids. A sudden conflict that threatens to destroy the peace between two worlds. And a young Fladramon [aka Flamedramon], part of an elite Dragon Taskforce, that finds himself caught inbetween...
1. Prologue: Rising Flames

_Digimon / Digital Monsters and all related trademarks belong to Bandai and Toei Animation. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission._

_Author's Note: _

Well, I didn't think I'd ever be writing Digimon again, but if I have new ideas, guess I should just write instead of leaving them floating around. I'll try this out for a bit and see how it goes, and how I feel about it.

A few things before I start. Firstly, this fic is entirely based off the **Japanese version** of Digimon (the version I'm more familiar with), not the English dub. Hence, the Digimon names, attack names and terms used are the **original Japanese terms**. If applicable, I will try to provide the dub terms to the best of my knowledge, which will be found at the bottom of the chapter. However, **no dub names** will be used in the fic itself.

I think I did a good job of confusing people by mixing Japanese names and dub names in the previous fic. I'm going to be more consistent here. Even if the name may seem unfamiliar, it's still the same Digimon.

The first example here would be **Fladramon**, which is the original name of **Flamedramon**.

And if anyone here is reading this after my other Digimon fic, welcome back! I did mention to many of you that I would not be doing a Dragonmorphs sequel, and it still applies. This fic is **not** a Dragonmorphs sequel, nor is it related is any way. It's a completely new start that I hope you'll come to enjoy as much as you did for the previous.

* * *

**Prologue: Rising Flames**

By nightdragon0

**Akishima, Tokyo. 2015 **

BOOM!

An ear-splitting explosion pierced through the relative silence of the night.

Accompanying that was the screeching of metal, shattering of glass and yelling of men as they retreated. The affected area of the city had been cordoned off, but there was little the police officers could do to stop their mark.

Especially since it was a massive, yellow armored creature resembling the fusion of a quadruped dinosaur and a turtle. A species of Digimon in particular, known as Tortomon. While towering over the smaller humans and vehicles already contributed to its intimidation factor, it was the jagged, spiky protrusions layering the shell on its back that was its real threat.

The Digimon fired these off at random, smashing through several of the surrounding buildings and sending the debris raining down onto the streets below.

"What are we supposed to do about it?" One of the officers shouted to his partner.

"We just wait. They've already called for backup." Came the reply.

"But how will that help? The lot of us here aren't doing any good!"

"The higher-ups know what they're doing. You'll have to get used to this sort of thing happening every now and then." The senior office pulled his partner behind the cover of a building as a patrol car went flying.

The junior opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the roaring of an engine. Speeding down the street on a black and red motorcycle was a youth dressed in a black leather jacket, black gloves and brown pants.

Seeing the two officers waving him down, the youth slowed down and stopped, removing his helmet to reveal his neck length black hair and brown eyes. The boy couldn't have been older than 21 or 22, and to have a civilian out here was certainly out of the ordinary.

"Hey what are you doing out here kid?" The junior officer asked sternly. "How did you get past the road blocks?"

"Relax pal, here." The youth waved calmly, raising his left hand.

Strapped around the wrist was a white wrist-guard with a red-colored, rectangular device attached to it. With a mechanical whirl, it slid into the palm of his left hand and flipped open, much like a foldable cellular phone.

The junior officer stared in confusion at the symbol displayed on screen, which seemed much like a dragon's head with two downwards-pointing swords crossed behind it.

"It's all right, let him through." The senior officer said. "He's the backup."

"Thanks guys, just leave it to me." The youth winked, darting round the corner.

"All units, D-PRED has arrived." The senior officer spoke into his comn-link. "Pull back and let them handle it."

"D-PRED? The digital response team."

"Indeed. Any Digimon related incidents are their job."

"But how would that…"

"Just watch."

"Hey! You!" The youth shouted, strolling up to the rampaging Tortomon. "Yeah you! The big overgrown shell-headed freak! You're in violation of a bunch of laws and stuff! So how bout you give up now before I have to get nasty?"

The Tortomon only responded by firing off a bunch of its shell plates straight at the youth. The latter didn't even try to move, but instead raised a fist and punched the nearest plate away.

It wasn't so much of his punch, but rather the reddish glow that emitted from his fist, which scattered the plates. That certainly startled the Tortomon, with the clearly visible look of surprise on its face.

"Keh, did you think I was really some normal human or something? Get real!" The black-haired figure smirked. "Oh well, I was looking for a fight anyway!"

Raising the device strapped to his left wrist, he crossed his arms and slid the device down the length of his outstretched right arm. As he slid the device, its screen began glowing until a bright, reddish light had emitted.

"Charge! D-Break!"

The aura of red light then shrouded the young man's body. When the light cleared, a clearly dragoniod figure stood in his place.

A blue-scaled dragonoid that stood upright, with only his belly, neck and jaws being white. He was armored at his double-jointed knees, feet and wore gauntlets on his hands. Several lighter pieces consisted of a sleeveless vest, leather straps around his arms, a mask with a single horn protruding and a leather utility belt around his waist. With the exception of the leather straps and belt, each piece of his armor or clothing was decorated with a red and yellow flame pattern.

"Fladramon!" He roared, raising his claws. (1)

* * *

Tortomon immediately fired off its shell plates again, only to miss as Fladramon leapt into the air.

"Knuckle Fire!" Fladramon fired off a series of small fireballs from his claws, many of which smacked Tortomon in the face and neck.

The larger Digimon stumbled and Fladramon took advantage of this by diving into a flying kick that knocked Tortomon several feet back. Undaunted, the huge turtle swiped clumsily with its claws, missing again as Fladramon rolled to the side.

Leaping up against the side of a building, the fire dragon kicked off and broke into his trademark attack.

"Fire Rocket!" Setting his body ablaze, Fladramon charged headfirst, bashing into Tortomon's head with a miniature explosion.

At least, it was where Tortomon's head would've been if it hadn't drawn its head back into its shell.

Nevertheless, the attack was done. Fladramon attempted to let his motion carry him over to his opponent's back, only to have a hail of Tortomon's shell plates end up flying into his path.

"Rarrgghh!" Fladramon went spinning, crashing through the window of a nearby building. "Grrr! That hurt you bastard!"

The fire dragon jumped right back out, slicing Tortomon across the face as he went back down to ground level.

Meanwhile, the two police officers were watching the Digimon battle from behind their cover.

"I've never seen one of their agents up close before." The junior officer remarked.

"Amazing, isn't it?" His partner nodded. "He may look like a kid, but that armored blue dragon is his true form."

"True form?"

"Yes. He's really a Digimon, just a different species from that turtle-thing. That fancy hand motion he does to charge the Digivice is supposed to recharge their energy after having to constantly spend it to maintain their human disguises."

"Should I be asking how you know all this?" The junior officer queried.

"Oh, I know a couple more of their agents." The senior officer replied calmly. "You can actually spot them fairly easily. They need to have that Digivice make contact with their bodies at all times, otherwise they revert back to their true forms. Just don't go disrupting them without a good reason, or…"

A car then pulled up to the two officers, interrupting their conversation.

"What's the situation?" A woman of about 24, with shoulder length black hair, leapt out.

Together with her was a man of similar age with short brown hair, and wearing sunglasses even though it was late at night.

"Ms. Itou! Mr. Tachibana! It's good to see you." The senior officer greeted. "One of your colleagues seems to have the situation under control."

"Our colleague?" The male muttered, shifting his sunglasses and staring towards the battle. "Yuri, when did we have a Fladramon in our squad?"

"Must be that new fellow they said they were transferring from one of the branches in the United States." Yuri replied.

"Rather enthusiastic, isn't he?"

"The report did say he was very 'hot-headed' and 'trigger-happy'. I didn't think they meant it literally."

"So…should we help him out?"

"Of course. Let's go Ryouta!"

"OK!"

Similar to the one before, both Yuri and Ryouta activated their wrist-mounted devices, bringing them up into their palms. While Yuri's device was orange, Ryouta's was black. Each one repeated the same motion of sliding the device along his or her right arm, causing a matching color of the auras to materialize.

"Charge! D-Break!"

* * *

"Rrrrr!" Fladramon somersaulted backwards, landing in a crouching position and shooting his Knuckle Fire attack, which Tortomon blocked by pulling its head into its shell.

This one had a pretty tough shell, but it was slowly weakening. So, he just needed to…

"Strike Fang!" A blur of purplish flames suddenly rushed past him, knocking Tortomon onto its side.

Another dragon leapt out of the flames and landed beside Fladramon, dusting himself off.

Although rather similar to Fladramon in body structure, he was instead purple-scaled with a white belly. Most prominent of his armor was a featureless gray mask over his face, revealing an orange mane beneath, and a single horn on the back. Some parts were armored, such as the shoulder pads, gauntlets and tip of his tail, but the rest of his outfit consisted of a pair of green pants and a choker around his neck.

Noticeable too were the series of tattoos on the exposed section of his chest.

"You're a Strikedramon." Fladramon grinned. "Nice to have a fellow dragon help me out."

"Why the hell are you out here by yourself?" Ryouta snapped. "You were supposed to report to headquarters ages ago!"

"Well, I sort of got lost. Then I heard about this…"

"Cut the chatter you two." Yuri jumped between the pair. "Finish the fight before we talk!"

As a Raptordramon in her natural form, she resembled an orange velociraptor, though with much of her body covered in gray armor. The gray metal formed a pair of wings on her back, a helmet, as well as armor for both her claws and legs. (2)

"Yeah, sorry." Ryouta muttered, turning back to their opponent, who'd managed to get back onto his feet.

"Ambush Crunch!" Yuri sped across the area and drove her fangs and claws into the Tortomon's front leg. "Turn him over where he's vulnerable!"

"Rarrwww!" The male dragons joined in, attacking the same leg.

Even though all three were smaller, their combined strength was enough to pull Tortomon down and flip the turtle over onto its back.

Ryouta and Yuri had barely stepped away when Fladramon leapt into the air.

"All right! Now he's mine!" The fire dragon roared excitedly.

In mid-air, he was in a prefect position to use any one of his attacks. However, what he did instead was trigger his gauntlets to retract and shrink into wrist bracers. Doing so revealed his more versatile, three-fingered claws beneath. Reaching to a pouch behind his back, Fladramon whipped out a pair of sleek, silver pistols.

"Gekiringa!"

He immediately let loose with a hail of energy shots, all of which pierced the Tortomon's upturned belly. The turtle continued howling and threshing for a while before it finally fell silent, its body breaking up into data particles and disintegrating.

Both Ryouta and Yuri stopped and stared as the Fladramon coolly bounded off a lamppost and landed beside them.

"What the heck was that?" Ryouta gasped.

"My own style, my original attack." Fladramon proudly spun the twin guns around. "I'm Yoshikawa Shinya. Nice to meet you!"

The lamppost which Shinya had pushed off had unfortunately been shaken loose, and was now on the verge of collapsing. However, Shinya didn't notice it with his back turned.

"And these here are the Gekiringa, or Imperial Wrath Fangs. My personal modification off the classic HK USP9." He continued proudly. "Packs quite a strong punch, including armor piercing, semi-automatic firing…"

"Shinya…" Yuri began.

"Don't interrupt! I'm almost at the good part…" Shinya stopped in mid-sentence as he heard the creak of the lamppost falling. "Oh sh…"

WHAM!

Ryouta and Yuri both slapped their faces, sweatdropping as Shinya lay on the ground with his eyes going round in swirls.

"Ow…did anyone get…the number of that truck?"

"Well, I can see why they kicked him over to our side of the world." Ryouta moaned sarcastically.

"Really? Were it so easy…" Yuri sighed.

* * *

**Notes:**

(1) Fladramon: Japanese version name for Flamedramon, as explained above.

(2) Raptordramon: Japanese version name for Reptiledramon.


	2. Clash of Fire and Steel

_Digimon / Digital Monsters and all related trademarks belong to Bandai and Toei Animation. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission._

* * *

**Clash of Fire and Steel**

By nightdragon0

Shinya nervously locked his claws behind his back in an effort to keep them from trembling. Perhaps his gauntlets could've served to do that, but they'd been currently shrunken into the bracers around his wrists. The gauntlets were bulky, and he normally only put them on during battles. Shinya couldn't really keep tabs on his tail either, which continued twitching about in anticipation.

Nevertheless, he did his best to look professional and stand still in front of the large desk.

At his full height of roughly 6 feet, the Fladramon was taller than an average adult human. Yet, he didn't feel that way when looking into the face of the bulky, well-built man before him. The man's stern face contributed a lot to his intimidation factor, but so did the rank of three bars on the shoulder of his blue coat.

The three bars indicated a Captain rank, and he would be Shinya's commanding officer from now on.

Of course, this wasn't an actual human, but a Digimon in human form, just like himself. The telltale sign was the white colored Bio-Digivice strapped around his wrist.

It wasn't an organization requirement for Digimon to be in human form when inside the headquarters or the Digimon Sector of any city, and it struck Shinya as odd that his new Captain was still using it.

Personally, Shinya felt odd being 'out' of his own body and wouldn't think of staying in his alternate form for any longer than necessary.

The Captain brushed a few strands of his brown hair away as he continued to read Shinya's datasheet on the computer. Shinya let his eyes fall upon the desk's nameplate, which had the words 'Captain Ishida Saitou' inscribed on it.

"Lance Corporal Yoshikawa Shinya…"

"Yes sir!" Shinya snapped up.

"I've gone through your documents, and everything's in order." The Captain pushed his keyboard aside and looked up. "Before I welcome you as a member of D-PRED Tokyo Branch, I'd like to check if you think you may have any difficulties adapting here. Are you comfortable with the language here in Japan?"

"I am, sir. When I was a cadet, I was attached to the branch in Kyoto during my final year. That's also where my human alias came from. I opted to keep it when I graduated."

"So I see. You managed to study both languages effectively?"

"Enough to get by, sir."

"Hmmm….you did have some impressive credentials amongst your batch at the academy." The Captain shot another glance towards his computer screen. "Since you've been in the United States for a while, I assume I don't need to repeat the usual rules and protocols to you. I'm sure they've drilled in to you lot at the academy."

"Yes sir, they have."

"You'll find that besides the location, things are mostly the same here. I don't strictly enforce formalities amongst your peers while off-duty, but I do expect some standard when it comes to doing your job. And I expect my team to work effectively and co-operate."

"Understood sir."

"We are one of the two branches located in Tokyo, with the other one being in Shibuya." Captain Ishida continued. "We operate mainly on the Western side of Tokyo, which includes much of the wilderness regions, and Hinohara, where the Digital Gate is located. I believe you came through it on your way here."

"Yes sir. I did."

"Oh, and I also heard about your little battle last night…"

"Erm…" Shinya felt the color drain out of his scales.

* * *

"Whew…that was too close for comfort…" Shinya gasped, leaning back against the wall.

The corridor outside the Captain's office had one of its walls decorated with the D-PRED emblem. This was represented by the symbol of an Imperialdramon Dragon Mode's head, together with downwards-pointing swords crossed behind it. The head was colored in crimson red, the swords in a light gray and the rest of the background in a deep blue.

From what he knew, this was a tribute to the founding members of the team, all of whom were Dragons. Although the current D-PRED had no restrictions on accepting any Digimon types, it had become a 'cool image' for Dragon Digimon to join.

Above it were the English characters, 'D-PRED', with the organization's full name, **D**igital **P**rimary **R**espons**e** Squa**d**. The organization's slogan, 'Swift, Efficient, Deadly", was also inscribed below the name.

Next to that were plates inscribed with the creed, organization information and all the usual things they used to decorate the base.

Shinya was familiar with these from his time at the military academy, which trained all future D-PRED agents. Even with both the Digital and Human Worlds enjoying a stretch of peace, it was still necessary to monitor all 'separatist Digimon' activity.

Many parts of the Digital World were still inhabited by Wild Digimon, unlike those who'd chosen to take a more civilized stance at life. While all known Digital Gates were well monitored and guarded, the use of them sometimes caused disruptions that temporarily opened gates at random locations.

Occasionally, a Wild One or two would cross over, and it was D-PRED's job to take care of them. There were also cases with some Digimon opposed to living in peace with the humans, and those would need to be apprehended or put down as well.

It wasn't an easy life, fighting half the time and spending the other half in human form, 'blending in' with the humans. However, it did carry its benefits too. Free lodgings and food, some income, plus a much easier clearance through customs when using a Digital Gate.

Shinya recalled Gate Building he'd passed through on his way here. The area around the Gate, known as the Digimon Sector, had seemed so much like back home. That was, until he'd left the area and entered the human inhabited ones. In fact, every Digimon Sector around the world had sprung up around the location of a Digital Gate.

"Hey, so you're the new guy here?" A large blue claw came to rest on Shinya's shoulder. "The Captain shake you up or something?"

Shinya had to look up as the XV-mon before him was a whole head and neck taller. Very much like himself in appearance, the dragonoid was blue-scaled with a white belly, neck and jaws. He even had the same single horn at the end of his snout, but in addition were a pair of white leathery wings and an X-shaped scar on his chest. (1)

The larger dragon wore no additional armor, save the standard D-PRED utility belt, with his blue colored Bio-Digivice tucked into it.

"Nah, he gave me a long talk about engaging things without orders and such, but he let me off in the end."

"He probably felt you did a good enough job." The XV-mon laughed. "I'm Eiji, technical specialist."

"Shinya." The Fladramon stepped back and bowed. "Nice to meet you."

"We haven't gotten anyone new for quite a while." Eiji remarked. "I heard the passing rate at the academy has been dropping lately."

"Yeah, more and more of them can't manage to charge a Bio-Digivice properly."

"Anyway, there aren't many of us, but we get things done. Truth be told, there hasn't been much action around lately." Eiji admitted. "You've met our Captain, and Lieutenant Mika is away for a while. Me? I'm in charge of the monitors and computer systems. And the agents on the ground are basically Yuri, Ryouta and yourself. There are occasionally human support staff around to help out, but we have this building mostly to ourselves."

"Pretty similar to what I'm used to." Shinya nodded.

"Would you like me to show you around?"

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll be fine on my own. These places are all designed in the same manner anyway."

"All right, we'll catch up later then." The XV-mon continued on his way, leaving Shinya to enter the elevator at the far end of the corridor.

* * *

A six-story structure was the standard design of any D-PRED headquarters, with the top floor serving as the commander's office and operations room, along with a lounge, crew quarters, training rooms and a vehicle storage below.

The training room itself spanned two whole levels, with many smaller rooms for carrying out various combat practices.

Shinya now made his way along the corridor to the room that held his interest the most…the firing range. Someone was already there, and it was none other than the brown haired man, which he recognized as Ryouta's human form.

Ryouta still had his sunglasses on and continued firing until his pistol was empty. Only then did he turn to acknowledge Shinya.

"Hey there." Shinya waved. "Didn't think you'd be one to be practicing using handguns."

"Humph, it's a hobby." Ryouta shrugged, slipping another clip into the pistol.

"Why not do it as your normal self?"

"Cause my claws are too big to hold these small guns properly. Either way, I don't have much of a use for them, unlike you."

Ryouta fired a few more shots as Shinya watched the electronic scoreboard.

"Maybe you'd be able to aim a little better if you took those off." Shinya reached for his companion's sunglasses. "There isn't any sun in here for that matter…"

"Hey, don't touch my…ggarrrgghhh!"

As Shinya pulled the sunglasses off, Ryouta immediately slammed his weapon on the ground and covered his eyes with one hand, waving the other one about blindly.

"Dammit! Give those back you fool!"

"Ok, ok, what is your problem anyway?" Shinya dropped the sunglasses into Ryouta's outstretched hand.

"If you remember, my normal face is covered by a visor all the time." The Strikedramon in human form snapped angrily. "I'm not used to the brightness when I'm like this. Keh, what is it with you hatchlings nowadays? Always acting before you think."

"Hey, who are you calling a hatchling?" Shinya shot back. "You're not much older than me!"

"Humph." Ryouta waved him off.

"And I'm a Lance Corporal, just like you are!" Shinya continued.

"Rank doesn't prove anything."

"What is your problem anyway?" Shinya growled, taking an immediate dislike to the other dragon.

"Quit bothering me, kid."

"Grrr! Now you're calling me a kid? I bet you I can shoot better than you! Even in human form." Shinya slammed his claws on the table. "I'll prove it right now!"

"All right." Ryouta smiled, handing him a pistol and ammo clip. "We'll go head-to-head."

"Challenge accepted!" Shinya activated his Digivice and switched to his human form, still wearing the same outfit as before.

Ryouta hit a few buttons, resetting the scoreboard and bringing out two new targets. The two agents readied their weapons, and at the computer's count, begun firing. Not a word was spoken, with only their gunshots echoing throughout the range.

Only when both had emptied their clips did Ryouta look up. Shinya made eye contact with him and smirked as their computer tailed their results.

'_Firer 1, Ryouta, 14 out of 15. Firer 2, Shinya, 15 out of 15.'_

Even if he couldn't see Ryouta's eyes, the look of surprise on his face was enough to make Shinya laugh.

"Why? Not used to being beaten?" Shinya grinned. "Tell you what, we can make this best 2 out of 3, if you like."

"Grrr…don't get cocky with me, kid. I'm just having a bad day, thanks to you."

"A good sportsman knows when to admit defeat."

"Keh, you kids think you're so good just because you make it through the academy. They've been going soft on you lot recently."

"Hey, I've gone through everything you've gone through as a cadet! So what makes you so high and mighty?"

"Want to show me what you can do then?"

"Sure as hell I do!" Shinya cracked his knuckles. "The D-Zone?"

"The D-Zone." Ryouta snarled. "Be prepared to get you tail whacked!"

"I'm not gonna lose to an arrogant bastard like you!"

The two passed by a Raptordramon on their way out, whom Ryouta quickly signaled to.

"Yuri, can I request you set up the D-Zone for us?"

"Sure, but what's this about?" The female asked.

"Some training." Ryouta replied. "I want to see how our new guy performs for myself."

"Yeah…" Shinya added in. "Just a bit of training…"

* * *

The Digital Zone, or D-Zone as it was commonly referred to, occupied a majority of the training levels. Fully supplemented by machinery and holographics, the huge room could to programmed to display a large number of scenarios for very realistic training simulations.

Ryouta and Shinya now stood on opposite ends of the room, each strapping a metallic collar around their necks. The collars were tied in to the holographics system of the D-Zone's second level control room, and served to simulate any pain and damage.

These worked by delivering painful, but non-lethal shocks to the wearer's body in response to injuries taken during the simulation. They could even go as far as delivering a numbing sensation in a limb, simulating paralysis.

"All right guys, both your collars are online." Yuri's voice announced over the PA system. "Training starts in 3 seconds…"

"I hope you're ready, Yoshikawa Shinya." Ryouta hissed.

"Better believe I am." Shinya growled in return.

Immediately, both their Digivices sprang into their palms.

"Charge! D-Break!"

Charging their Digivices in this manner had the effect of restoring the energy used to remain in human form. Plus it also gave anyone using it a short energy-boost.

Since maintaining one's human form required the Bio-Digivice to be in either direct contact or reasonably close contact, most agents wore them via wrist-braces while in human form. When returning to their normal bodies, the Digivices were programmed to attach themselves to the agent's standard issue utility belt, until they were next needed.

Shinya however, manually held it to his waist as he felt his body beginning to change. He felt his smaller fingers melding into his real claws, along with his face elongating into a familiar snout. His knees reversed into their usual double-jointed style and his tail emerged from behind.

The clothes he was wearing were absorbed and quickly replaced by his Fladramon armor.

"Rarrrr! Come on!" Shinya roared, only to have a wall block out his view of Ryouta.

The holographic simulation had begun, placing them in the 'Mayan Ruins' battlefield. Shinya had been placed at the temple's entrance, which was surrounded by a forest. Guessing that the program had most likely placed his opponent inside the temple, Shinya bounded up the steps and through the front door.

It almost proved to be a fatal mistake, for a huge, ceiling-mounted axe triggered upon his entry. The Fladramon barely hit the ground in time, allowing the trapped weapon to pass harmlessly over his head. Crawling on all fours, Shinya pulled himself out of the trap's reach.

Being hit by one of the simulation's traps would not only leave him pretty sore, but leave a bad impression on his reputation as well.

Ahead of Shinya were three open corridors, one of which was abruptly sealed shut by a moving stone wall. Jumping to his feet, Shinya dashed towards another opening, only to have it shut in his face. Immediately, he changed direction and sprinted for the final corridor, which was now being sealed via a door closing in from above.

At the last moment, the Fladramon dropped his body and neatly slide beneath the door, barely making it as it closed.

"Whew…nasty playground today…" Shinya panted.

He didn't have much more time to think, for the creaking of machinery alerted him to several more walls descending from the ceiling and attempting to seal off the passageway.

"Dammit…dammit…dammit!" The dragon cursed, pushing off the ground and into a mad sprint.

Just like a scene out of a Hollywood movie, Shinya made it past each door just as it slammed down behind him.

* * *

Beyond the last trapped door was a large, open room, which Shinya dashed into. The swipe of a claw caught the Fladramon off guard, but due to his dumb luck at moving so fast, the surprise attack missed. Shinya leapt off the platform and onto the lower level, turning to face his opponent as Ryouta came down roaring.

The Strikedramon was quick to attack, slashing left and right as Shinya dodged, nimbly hopping backwards. Putting some space between the two forced Ryouta to advance. And Shinya chose this moment to start counterattacking with his gauntlet-covered claws.

Ryouta didn't dodge, but instead took the blows and blocked many of Shinya's swift attacks.

_He's tough! _Shinya realized. _I may be faster, but he's got more strength than…_

Suddenly, the Strikedramon caught hold of his left claw and dragged him forward. Shinya stumbled and Ryouta immediately kneed him in the stomach. The armored Digimon found the wind knocked out of his chest as Ryouta floored him with an uppercut to the lower jaw.

_Rarrghh…_

Shinya's back slammed into the floor, but his battle instincts told him to roll away immediately, saving him from Ryouta's lunging claw attack. Being this close to his opponent, Shinya simply couldn't miss as he lashed out with his tail, catching Ryouta on the chest and leg.

_That bastard! I'll show him! _

As the Strikedramon roared in pain, Shinya pounced on him, knocking Ryouta to the ground and sinking his fangs into his shoulder. It was a purely feral instinct which Ryouta reacted to in turn, biting into Shinya's opposite shoulder with his own fangs.

Shoving and clawing at each other, the two rolled about, struggling as they gave in to their primal instincts. Each one trying to make the kill by going for the other's vulnerable neck.

"Hey, what are you two doing?" Yuri yelled over the PA system. "Are you sparring or brawling?"

All she got in reply however was the howls and snarls of the two dragons.

"Oh wonderful…" She moaned over the still 'activated' microphone.

"Ah, Yuri!" Eiji's voice exclaimed. "I was just looking for…"

"Eiji! Great timing! I need your help!"

"For what?"

"To stop the guys over there from fighting! Come on!"

The holographic Mayan Ruins' around them vanished, leaving the raging dragons on the cold metal floor, which did little to stem their fighting. It wasn't until a Raptordramon and an XV-mon jumped in that the two were finally broken apart.

"Cut it out you two!" Yuri growled, holding Shinya's arms with her legs and the Fladramon's head with her tail. "This is against regulations!"

Anri used his larger bulk to flip Ryouta over onto his belly.

"Calm down Ryouta!" Eiji urged, pinning Strikedramon's arms behind his back.

It took a few more minutes of struggling before the exhausted Digimon begun breaking out of their draconic trance.

Covered in sweat and a little blood, Shinya groaned as Yuri let him up. The Fladramon converted his gauntlets to bracers and clutched his injured left shoulder. Ryouta was pretty much in a similar state, although his wound was on the right instead.

"What in the world were you two doing?" Yuri yelled. "Trying to kill each other?"

"I had every thing under control!" Both Shinya and Ryouta shouted at the same time.

At that realization, both their eyes narrowed into slits (although Ryouta's weren't visible beneath his helmet).

"Stop copying everything I say!" The two once again growled simultaneously.

"Time out!" Yuri roared, jumping between the two. "You two go and get yourselves cleaned up right now. Because if Captain Ishida finds out about this, I guarantee that he won't be happy!"

The two continued glaring angrily at each other, forcing Yuri to raise her voice.

"That was an order, not a request!"

"Yes Sergeant." The two dragons replied reluctantly.

"Humph." Ryouta snorted. "It's not worth my time killing hatchlings anyway. Later!"

With a wave of his claw, the Strikedramon stomped out of the room.

"Yeah? Well it'll look bad on my reputation if I kill someone in my new unit!" Shinya angrily snapped back. "And on the first day too!"

Shinya then departed as well, although with a little mishap as he accidentally thumped his head against some of the overhanging training machinery. Screaming in abusive language, Shinya chucked his training collar aside as he made it to the door and exited.

"This is why I hate working with male dragons." Yuri let out a sigh. "I swear, none of them ever respect my rank, and all they ever want to do is fight each other."

"Excuse me!" Eiji growled.

"Sorry, but all you do is push buttons. At least those don't talk back."

"Erm, well about what I was trying to say earlier…"

"Could it be **any** worse than having to referee them?"

"Captain Ishida wants to see us in his office in 15 minutes. He's got another mission for us."

"Were it so easy…" The velociraptor groaned.

* * *

**Notes:**

(1) XV-mon: Japanese version name for ExVeemon.


	3. Speedway

_Digimon / Digital Monsters and all related trademarks belong to Bandai and Toei Animation. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission._

* * *

**Speedway**

By nightdragon0

Moving his eyes slightly to the left, Shinya stared hard at Ryouta and let a small snarl escape his jaws. While the Strikedramon's eyes were not visible, it was certain, from his facial expression, that Ryouta was doing the same.

"And such are the reports of the mysterious serpent at the destination." Captain Ishida was speaking. "It could be another false alarm, but with three unknown causes of sunken ships within the past two weeks, it merits investigation."

All the chairs at the base had a 'tail slot' built into their backrests, allowing anyone with a tail to sit down without too much trouble. That was how Shinya, Ryouta, Yuri and Eiji were currently seated for the briefing. Captain Ishida, however, remained in his human guise. Although none of the four had seen him in his Digimon form so far, no one was in the position to ask. It wasn't exactly a polite question, especially to an officer.

The Captain flipped a switch on his desk, which brought up a large display screen behind him.

"This is a map of the location, Area 204." He indicated with a laser pointer. "The sunken ships have occurred at these three points. However, there is no direct proof that links these incidents to any Digimon-related activity, Wild Ones or not. Hence, the investigation conducted will be under human guise. We don't want the press getting into our backs, so you will not reveal your true forms unless it's to defend yourselves. Any questions?"

"Sir." Yuri raised a claw. "Why are we looking into this? Shouldn't the human police branch be doing the investigation instead?"

"They have, and apparently they're getting anxious because they can't come up with anything." The Captain folded his arms. "These days, the humans tend to come to us the moment something beyond their comprehension has happened. With the number of rifts and Wild Ones popping up recently, I can partially understand their…are you two paying attention?"

Captain Ishida abruptly slammed his fists on the desk, causing the three dragons and the velociraptor to jump. Even though he was in his human form and his men were currently larger than him, the mere tone of his voice never failed to intimidate them. The 'two' that he'd been referring to were none other than Shinya and Ryouta, who'd begun shoving at each other with their shoulders.

"Yes Sir!" Both dragons snapped up.

"Well, since you two seem very eager to get going…Ryouta, take one of the civilian cars and approach from the North. Bring the scanning equipment along and search for any Digimon or Digital Rift signals." Captain Ishida decided. "And Shinya, you go along with him."

Neither of the two was very happy about it, being evident both from their expressions and their immediate voicing of protest.

"Sir…"

"But Captain…"

"Perhaps you didn't hear me the first time. That was not a request. That was an **order**!"

"Yes Sir…" The two muttered, glaring angrily at each other.

"Yuri, you use another civilian vehicle and scan the South. It's a smaller area, so I believe you can handle it alone."

"Yes Sir." The Raptordramon nodded.

"Everyone is to transmit their findings to Eiji back here. Report any abnormalities immediately." Captain Ishida continued. "Move out team!"

* * *

"Grrr…"

"Grrr…"

"Will you two cut that out?" Yuri growled. "If you two keep blaring your fangs at each other, your faces are gonna get stuck that way."

Although all three of them were currently in human form, neither of the males cared about how odd they looked snarling at each other.

"Or maybe they already are."

"Humph, let's just get this over with kid." Ryouta folded his arms. "The sooner the better."

"Fine. Lead the way, senior." Shinya hissed, with a lot of emphasis on the word 'senior'.

The Fladramon in human form reached for the right-side door handle, only to have Ryouta stop him.

"I'll drive."

"Yeah, I forgot that cars are right-hand drive over here." Shinya muttered, moving around to the left side of the car.

Ryouta deliberately waited for him to tug on the door handle before pressing a button on the car key, triggering the door to automatically open. As Shinya was pulling on the handle at the same time, the motion sent him stumbling back, ending up on his butt.

"Grrrr! Hey!" Shinya snarled.

"Ryouta!" Yuri shot him an annoyed glance. This wasn't being very professional.

"Oops, slip of the hand." Ryouta answered calmly, shifting his sunglasses. "And that's payback for the sunglasses."

"Fine, so we're even now?" Shinya pulled off his black leather jacket and tossed it into the backseat, before getting into the passenger side himself.

He was still in his outfit of a dark red T-shirt and brown pants, with his black gloves on. While the appearances of their human aliases couldn't be changed, any clothing they were wearing would be recorded in the Bio-Digivice. Hence, the changes would be reflected the next time they used the form.

On the other hand, Ryouta's outfit was a simple long-sleeved green shirt with black pants, and his sunglasses.

"Don't go fooling around you two." Yuri leaned against the window. "A mission is a mission, don't let a few differences disrupt your decisions."

"Oh it won't." Shinya assured.

"You know me better than that Sergeant." Ryouta muttered as he stepped on the accelerator, driving the car out of the ground level garage.

A set of heavy footsteps indicated that Eiji had entered the garage. Since he wasn't leaving the base, Eiji was in his natural XV-mon body, which towered over Yuri's human form.

"I really wonder what that Captain's thinking, putting those two together." She sighed.

"I don't know, but he probably wants them to get used to each other before anything more serious comes up." Eiji shrugged. "After all, there's not much choice with our limited number of agents. And he did just transfer, so the higher-ups aren't likely to entertain another transfer request anytime soon."

"That's if the two idiots don't kill each other in the meantime."

"You really worry too much, you know?"

"By the way, how do I look this time?" Yuri asked. She was now wearing an orange sleeveless shirt, a blue pair of denim shorts and had a gray sweater tied around her waist.

"Better at least." Eiji laughed. "You won't stand out so much, like that last mission where you were wearing…"

"Oh shut up. It's not my fault that human females have such a complicated dress code."

"It's called fashion."

"Do you actually care about that?" Yuri snapped, jabbing at the XV-mon's chest. "You don't even wear clothes normally."

"Well, it's a hobby." Eiji shrugged. "You'd better get moving then. I'll be at my usual spot in communications, waiting to check in with you guys."

* * *

Both Shinya and Ryouta had undergone intensive training just to become D-PRED agents. And neither one wanted to appear 'unprofessional' by fighting each other unnecessarily, least the other rant him out to their Captain.

But that didn't mean that either wanted to talk, and an air of silence filled the car throughout most of their journey, with the only noise being the humming of the engine. Both the silence and the other cars on the road were beginning to get on Ryouta's nerves. The Strikedramon in human form reached for the glove compartment and put a cigarette to his mouth.

Shinya had been staring out the window the whole time and suddenly turned to Ryouta. In one motion, Shinya snatched the cigarette and tossed it to the back of the car.

"Hey!" Ryouta growled.

"You shouldn't smoke you know? It's bad for you." Shinya uttered his first words in hours.

"Bad for the humans, not for us dragons."

"You'll never know."

"I don't need you to lecture me on…"

"Hey…"

"Don't interrupt me kid!" Ryouta muttered, angrily blaring his horn at another vehicle that had just cut into his lane.

"Look, this is important! I think somebody's following us."

"Hm?"

"That red SUV three cars back, to our left." Shinya gestured. "It disappears every now and then, but it keeps popping up after a while. Been doing that for the past hour."

Frowning, Ryouta glanced in the rear view mirror. And sure enough, the red SUV was there. The agent thought he'd noticed it too, but he wasn't entirely sure.

Unfortunately, as much as he disliked his new team mate, he'd have to take Shinya's word for it.

Switching lanes, Ryouta turned their vehicle off the highway and onto a small, empty road. The red SUV did the same, getting several angry horns as it cut across a lane of traffic to reach the same exit in time.

"You just might be right…" Ryouta admitted. "Keep watching him."

Ryouta accelerated, and the red SUV did the same. That was definitely suspicious, considering this road was empty compared to the highway. Releasing his foot from the accelerator, Ryouta slowed down…but the red SUV kept coming closer.

"Tinted windows." Shinya noted. "I have a bad feeling about this."

No sooner had he said that did Ryouta catch a glimpse of a metallic object in his rear-view mirror. A laser pistol, sticking out from the right rear window of the SUV.

* * *

"Look out!" Shinya warned.

Ryouta was already turning, swerving their vehicle to the side to avoid the laser burst.

"What the hell?" He cursed.

Ryouta also noticed that whoever was firing the laser pistol wasn't sticking his hand out of the window. Instead, he had the pistol braced on the windowsill and was triggering it from inside.

Another blast from the laser pistol blew a large crater in the road ahead. Chunks of rock and tar slammed against their vehicle as Ryouta swerved to avoid the newly made hole.

"All right, we're taking those bastards down." Shinya growled, releasing his seatbelt and shifting into his Fladramon form. The size difference was immediately obvious. Shinya had to shove his seat backwards as he reached for his pistols.

"Kid, you take the wheel." Ryouta spoke up. "I'll handle them."

"But…" Shinya opened his jaws to protest.

"Don't argue with me!" Ryouta snapped.

"Fine! But don't say I didn't warn you, senior!"

Ryouta only responded by releasing his grip on the steering wheel and punching the sunroof open. Shifting into his Strikedramon form, Ryouta pushed off his seat, springing through the opening and onto the roof of the car.

"You're not the only one who plays around with guns." Ryouta declared. "Let me show you how it's done!"

The Strikedramon reached his right claw into one of his belt pouches. A metallic whirl sounded as something clipped itself around the claw. What he drew out seemed like a gauntlet with a square-shaped end, but Shinya knew better, even watching from the corner of his eye.

_A Fang Throttle…not bad heh…_

Despite the name, it was actually a modified form of a laser pistol worn around one's fist. Although it could be somewhat slow, the configuration enabled it to be easily fired with one hand. And Ryouta wasted no time in returning fire.

Unfortunately, the driver of the SUV was skilled enough to evade both his shots. Ryouta had to duck low as the gunner's shot passed narrowly over his head. Another shot detonated very close to their vehicle's right hand side, shaking the car as Shinya struggled to retain control.

Ryouta fired again and missed, mostly due to the swerving of Shinya.

"Keep it steady!" Ryouta roared. "I can't get a good shot off like this!"

"I'm trying, all right?" Shinya retorted.

"Hey! Bend! Watch out you fool!" Ryouta yelled. "Right! Turn right! Turn!"

The dragons' vehicle skidded with a loud screeching of tires. Sparks flew as the left door of the car scraped itself along the safety barrier. A little more and their car would've been sent rolling down a steep hillside.

Ryouta himself was nearly tossed off the car's roof. The only thing that saved him was one of the bars on the roof, which he managed to grab with his free left claw. Still, the force of the motion left him swinging, painfully smacking his snout into the driver's window.

"Ow, that's got to hurt." Shinya remarked.

"Where in Yggdrasil's name did you learn how to drive?" Ryouta screeched.

"I didn't…"

"Oh you…you WHAT?"

BOOM! A shot from their pursuers rocked the vehicle, very nearly rolling the car over.

"The only thing I've got is a motorcycle license!" Shinya yelled.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" Ryouta roared.

"I tried to, but you wanted to do the shooting, **senior**!" Shinya growled.

"Dammit, just keep the wheel straight! All I need is one good shot!" Ryouta pulled himself back onto the roof.

However, their pursuers finally hit the mark, taking out the front right tire. Ryouta's aim was thrown completely off as the car spun in a 180 degree turn. To make things worse, the road had turned into a downwards slope, leaving their car to roll down the slope backwards.

"You've got the gear in neutral!" Ryouta yelled, desperately trying to adjust his position and not fall off at the same time.

The enemy vehicle was rapidly approaching, and their out-of-control car was most definitely an easy target.

"Which one is the emergency brake?" Shinya hastily asked.

"The lever on your left!"

"This one?" Shinya reached for it for his left claw, taking his right claw off the steering wheel at the same time.

"No! What the fu…rrrarrrrgggghhhhhh!" Ryouta was unable to complete his sentence as Shinya yanked the emergency brake hard.

Tires and metal screeched as the brakes took effect, giving off the smell of burning rubber and steel.

Ryouta was flung clear off the roof and into the forest nearby. The Strikedramon's screeching was abruptly cut off as he slammed headfirst into a huge tree.

Shinya was fumbling for one of his pistols and brought it up just as the enemy car drew closer. The Fladramon fired two shots straight through his own windshield, blowing out both front tires of the enemy vehicle. He then dove out through the driver's door and nearly collided with the enemy SUV as it skidded wildly out of control.

The Fladramon was nimble enough to make a small hop with his toes, landing on the SUV's bonnet and digging his left claw in for balance. Without a moment to spare, Shinya brought his pistol up and fired at point blank range through the tinted windshield.

Due to the random shaking and swerving, even he wasn't sure if he'd managed to hit the driver or front passenger. But what he did do was cause the driver to panic, so much that he hit the brakes. With the front tires gone, the SUV immediately spun out of control, throwing Shinya off.

The Fladramon had the wind knocked out of him as he hit the ground. He was just able to see the SUV skid round a bend, so that it was out of his view. As Shinya struggled to his feet, a loud explosion rang out. That was followed by the appearance of black smoke from around the corner.

* * *

A rustling of leaves sounded as Ryouta staggered out of the forest, clutching the side of his helmet in pain.

"Psychotic dragon! Were you trying to give me a concussion or something?"

"At least I took care of them, didn't I?" Shinya insisted, jogging around the corner.

The two dragons arrived to find the SUV ablaze admit a raging torrent of flames.

"So much for taking them alive for questioning." Ryouta muttered dryly. "Well? See what you can salvage."

Shinya was roughly shoved forward.

"Do you mind? I may be a fire elemental, but I'm just fire-resistant, not fire-proof!"

"Put the fire out then!" Ryouta whacked the Fladramon at the back of his head.

"Will you stop ordering me around?" Shinya snapped. "You're not a Sergeant or anything for that matter!"

"Why you!"

"And you ordering me around nearly got us killed!" Shinya continued. "I've got a good mind to kick ya' in the spleen for that!"

"Spleen? Do you even know where that is?" Ryouta taunted with a smirk.

"Erm…well…not really…"

"Humph." Ryouta folded his arms.

"But I know this is! Rargh!" Shinya drew his leg back and kicked Ryouta in the groin.

If the Strikedramon's eyes were visible, they would've been bulging out of their sockets as Ryouta doubled over in pain.

"No hitting below the belt!" Ryouta suddenly sprang up, grappled Shinya and kneed him in the groin.

"Garrgghhh!" Now it was Shinya's turn to drop the ground in agony. "Bastard! You just did it! Arrghh…"

"Should I say no sneak attacks either?" Ryouta lunged, slamming Shinya onto his back.

Shinya threw his opponent off and charged, the two dragons locking claws.

However, the brawl was quickly cut off by the grunting of an engine.

"What the…" The pair gasped as they dashed towards the source of the noise, the fight forgotten for now.

They came round the bend just in time to see their D-PRED car racing off into the distance.

"Hey! That's our car!" Shinya yelled in shock.

"Shit! That vehicle had an auto tire change feature!" Ryouta realized.

Their attackers had apparently gotten around them while they'd been arguing, and had stolen the vehicle from right under their snouts…along with all the scanning equipment.

"Captain Ishida won't be happy…" Shinya finally broke the silence.

"What a startling revelation." Ryouta muttered sarcastically.

* * *

Meanwhile, the stolen D-PRED vehicle was currently host to another pair of conversing figures.

"Whew, man! That was too close!"

"Says you. I had everything under control!"

"Under control? Dude, you couldn't even shoot straight for cryin' out loud!"

"Shut up. You can't drive much better either!"

"I almost took a couple of bullets in the chest for that!"

"We got the job done. That's all that matters. This vehicle here was a nice bonus."

"Had to use our powers for it though."

"Keh, I don't see why we had to stay out of sight. I want a good chance to get my claws into something."

"Dude, the boss strictly said not to engage them."

"Put that in a memo entitled '_Shit I Already Know'_!"

"Now you're just being mean."

"Be quite and let's get back to base."

With that, the second speaker jammed down on the accelerator and sped off.


	4. Serpent of the Lake

_Digimon / Digital Monsters and all related trademarks belong to Bandai and Toei Animation. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission._

* * *

**Serpent of the Lake**

By nightdragon0

"It's no use! I can't get a signal even from up here!" Shinya yelled.

"The Bio-Digivices' range of communication is too short." Ryouta muttered.

"Hey! If you knew that all along, you could've told me sooner! Instead of making me climb all the way up this tree!"

"It was worth a try."

"Blasted scale-bag." Shinya growled under his breath, making his way down. Fladramon were natural acrobats, and Shinya effortlessly dropped from branch to branch until he was back on the forest floor.

"Hmm…" Ryouta was leaning against another tree with his arms folded and his tail twitching about in thought.

"Hey, we've wasted a lot of time trying to find the tallest tree in this area." Shinya remarked. "Let's go back to the road. If our comns dragon sees something amiss with the vehicle's tracker, he's bound to let Sergeant Yuri know."

"And what should we do in the meantime? Just wait around for help?" Ryouta growled, furiously swatting several insects away from his snout. "We should head for the lake on foot."

"To do what? Complete the mission? We've lost all our scanning and communications equipment, if you've forgotten!"

"Use your brains to think for once! Unless you've got them in your tail." Ryouta straightened up.

"Hey…wha…" Shinya muttered, glancing at his own tail in confusion. He obviously hadn't caught the insult.

"Grrr…Yuri will probably be in proximity of the lake." Ryouta explained. "And our Bio-Digivices will be able to make contact with the equipment she has."

"Well…I suppose you've got a point…" Shinya reluctantly admitted, scratching his head.

"Of course I have a point." The Strikedramon snorted. "Hurry up tails-for-brains, let's get moving."

"Hey!" Shinya slammed his tail on the ground. "There's nothing wrong with my tail!"

Ryouta was already running, and completely ignored the Fladramon's screeching. The Strikedramon effortlessly dashed through the foliage, leaping between trees and cutting whatever he couldn't evade out of his path.

"Fine then, sap-dramon!" Shinya jumped into one of the trees. "Let's see who gets there first! The grounder or the tree-hopper!"

Springing from tree branch to tree branch, the Fladramon stuck closely to Ryouta's trail.

* * *

"The scanner's not picking up anything in this sector." Yuri spoke through the com-link. "My investigation shows an all-clear. If there was anything abnormal in this sector, it's gone now."

The vehicle she'd driven was a blue and white commercial landrover, which seemed to fit in well with all the other large family vehicles in the parking lot. Yuri could see a number of humans hanging around the lakeside, with several children running about. Whatever rumors that had been spreading around hadn't been enough to deter the folk determined to take advantage of the good weather.

From her seated position on the landrover's roof, Yuri watched a couple of boats cruising along the river.

_These humans seem have things so easy… _Yuri thought enviously. The disguised Raptordramon was holding a handful of her long black hair as she tried to secure it with an elastic band, which was constantly coming loose.

_Grrr…this would be a pleasant day for me too if they'd let me come out here in my real form. The sun looks really good for basking in. And I wouldn't be stuck trying to keep my own hair out of my face!_

"Sergeant Yuri, you there?" Eiji's voice came over the communications channel.

"Not so loud." Yuri grabbed the com-link from the vehicle's dashboard. "This is a public area remember?"

"Sorry." Eiji replied. "At least you're doing all right."

"Yeah. This was probably another false alarm…hey…" Yuri stopped. "What do you mean by that? Have Shinya and Ryouta gotten into trouble?"

"Well, you see…those two have suddenly decided absence from my scanners. Or at least their vehicle has." Eiji explained. "I can't raise them on the comns channels either."

"Wonderful! And I thought that this would be a quick investigation." Yuri moaned. "What has the Captain said?"

"He's not around at the moment. Got called to another one of those endless meetings."

"Well then…" Yuri leapt off the roof. "I'll have to make my own decision then."

"You're going to look for them, are you?" Eiji asked.

"Transmit their vehicle's last known position to me. I'll head there immediately."

"All right…done." The com-link carried over the tapping of Eiji's claws on his panel. "You shouldn't worry too much though. It's probably just the mountains interfering with the signal."

"Were it so easy…" Yuri grunted, jumping into the driver's seat.

* * *

"Looks pretty normal to me." Shinya gestured. "If this is what the lake looks like normally that is."

"Humph." Ryouta shrugged, continuing to glance over the area.

After the long trek, the pair had spent the last hour walking up and down the shore in human form. This area was more isolated than the family picnic areas, and the D-PRED agents only encountered the occasional hikers or campers.

Ryouta still had his Bio-Digivice out and was tapping on its buttons. Shinya wiped the sweat off his brow before walking to the lake and splashing some water over himself.

"Be quiet, tails-for-brains." Ryouta snapped. "Yuri? Yuri come in."

All he was receiving in return was either static or a 'not available' tone from the cell phone-shaped Digivice.

"It's not working." Shinya plopped down on the grass of the lakeside. "We've been walking up and down the side of this lake in human form for nothing! And it's bloody hot too."

"You're the fire elemental, so quit complaining." Ryouta had rolled up his long sleeves and now used one to wipe the sweat off the side of his head.

"Hey, that doesn't mean I can't feel the heat." Shinya panted. "Especially like this."

"Whatever." Ryouta shrugged, fishing out a pack of cigarettes and putting one to his mouth. To further add to his frustration, tapping around his pockets revealed that he didn't have a lighter.

"Is that what you do every time you're in a bad mood?"

"Just give me a light kid."

"What?"

"Come on, just change one hand and snap your claws. You owe me for that last cigarette."

"Oh fine." Raising his right hand, Shinya changed it into the blue-scaled claw of his Fladramon body. A snap of his claws created a small ball of flames, which he used to light the disguised Strikedramon's cigarette.

Shinya wrinkled his nose at the smell of cigarette smoke. Ryouta responded with a half-hearted nod of approval.

"A simple 'thank you' would've been enough."

Ryouta simple shrugged and turned away.

"Hey, just what is your problem with me?" Shinya growled, jumping to his feet. "I may not be the sharpest tool in the shack, but I can see that much!"

"Shut up, it's none of your business kid."

"It is my business if you don't realize! I don't know what it is, if maybe you know someone who behaves like me…or maybe if you had a partner that I remind you of, but I…"

"Grrr…" Ryouta immediately dropped his cigarette and stomped hard on it.

Shinya stopped speaking, almost being able to see the human-form Strikedramon's eyes narrowing beneath his sunglasses. He'd hit some unpleasant note, that was for certain.

Ryouta had his fists clenched, causing Shinya to back away in surprise. If he was going to attack, Shinya never found out. Someone else interrupted them first.

With a loud hiss, a serpentine head rose out of the water behind Ryouta. A yellow armored head with ice blue eyes and a blue scaled serpentine body. And the Seadramon reared its head back to strike.

"Watch out!" Shinya yelled.

Shinya jumped back and shifted into his Fladramon form. Ryouta spun round, but all he could do was block the Seadramon's Ice Arrow attack with his arms.

Crying out in pain, Ryouta was flung to the ground, reverting to his natural Strikedramon body. His Digivice went spinning, landing in a grassy patch nearby. With Ryouta seemingly disabled, the Seadramon turned its sights on Shinya.

* * *

"I should be at the location you sent in about 20 minutes." Yuri reported.

"Sergeant, you do realize you're driving way above the speed limit of the road, don't you?" Eiji's voice sounded.

"Do you think I even care?"

"Well, no. But…hey…" Eiji clicked a few buttons. "I've gotten Ryouta's vehicle signal. He's pretty close, just down the road and moving towards your location."

"Ryouta." Yuri changed the comn channels. "Come in."

The radio hissed and suddenly clicked off. Someone on the other end had deliberately cut off her call.

"What the? Something's definitely wrong." Yuri growled. "I'm going in!"

Tires screeched as Yuri floored the accelerator, forcing the vehicle into overdrive.

"The vehicle's turned around." Eiji reported. "It's heading away from you now."

"Not if I can help it!"

Although the road was slightly bumpy, it was straight, allowing Yuri to quickly catch up. Part of it was due to the fact that the vehicle she was pursuing wasn't moving as fast.

Yuri caught sight of the vehicle for a brief second, noting that it was fairly damaged. However, the car rounded a corner before she was close enough to identify any of its occupants.

Being in human form resulted in the agents being restricted to normal human capabilities. That meant that her normally sharp Raptordramon vision had essentially been degraded, something that Yuri silently cursed.

Without reducing her speed too much, Yuri swerved round the corner…and saw nothing along the straight road ahead. The D-PRED agent immediately slammed on the brakes.

"What…Eiji, can you track them?"

"The vehicle seems to have gone off road." Eiji responded.

"I see it!" Yuri spotted the tire marks leading off the road and leapt out of her landrover. "Charge! D-Break!"

The shift was completed in mid-leapt, leaving her familiar Raptordramon talons to touch the road instead. If the tire marks weren't already enough, her nostrils immediately picked up the scent of exhaust and petrol leading off the road.

Unlike her landrover, the other car wasn't built for off-road situations. If someone had driven it off into the forest, the Raptordramon was likely to be able to catch up.

The smell of petrol was so strong, practically serving as another signal to the tire marks and damaged plants. Unfortunately, the powerful scents also worked against Yuri. She'd barely gotten five feet into the forest before an entire bucket of petrol was slashed in her face.

"Rarrrghh!" The fluid stung her eyes, forcing them shut, and overwhelmed her sense of smell. All of a sudden, she was stunned, blinded and unable to smell anything else.

That moment was more than enough for the unknown attacker to slam into Yuri, throwing the Raptordramon to the ground.

* * *

"Knuckle Fire!" The Fladramon's gauntlets automatically moved over his claws as he launched the attack, throwing several fiery bolts at his opponent.

The Seadramon countered by firing more Ice Arrows. The opposing elements met in the center, exploding and creating a huge cloud of steam. As Shinya struggled to re-target his foe, the Seadramon ducked its head back into the water and disappeared.

"Scales!" Shinya retracted his gauntlets and pounded his fists together. He then dashed towards Ryouta and shook him. "Hey, you all right? Wake up!"

"Grargh! Garrgghh!" Ryouta grunted. "I…I can't feel my arms…"

"Your arms are still attached, and they look fine." Shinya lifted the Strikedramon's arms to look for any signs of damage. "Wait, looks like there's some kind of computer chips stuck in your upper arms. I'll try to get it out."

"Wait…"

"Rarrgh!" An electrical charge shocked the Fladramon as his claws closed around the chip. "What in Yggdrasil's name?"

"Some kind of…neuralizer chip." Ryouta muttered. "Blocks…nerve impulses. Need to destroy the neuralizer gun that…fires them."

"Neuralizer gun?" Shinya wondered. "The only thing that Seadramon firing at us was its Ice Arrows. Wait, don't tell me that it swallowed…"

"Roooaaarrr!"

Shinya whipped out one of his pistols and fired towards the splashing sound of water. He was rewarded by a roar of pain, but also took several icicles to the thighs in return. The Fladramon took a fall, right onto Ryouta's belly.

"Urgh! Get off!" Ryouta gasped, having the wind knocked out of his stomach.

"Rarrghh! Damn! It got me too." Shinya rolled to the side, revealing another of the neuralizer chip lodged in the scales at his waistline. "My legs and tail aren't responding!"

A second roar turned their attention towards the Seadramon, which now had a bloody right eye socket, where Shinya's bullet had hit its mark.

"Bastard!" Ryouta cursed, struggling to his feet. Being unable to move his arms, it was actually a harder task than expected. And the Seadramon was preparing its next strike.

"No you don't!" Shinya fired his remaining gun at their foe.

The Seadramon swerved its head to the side, evading the bullets, and blasted a spray of water at the Fladramon. Unable to move away, Shinya let off a gurgled screech as he was hit, losing grip on his gun in the process. The water pressure was so powerful that it rolled Shinya off the bank and into the river itself.

As the Fladramon coughed and spluttered, the Seadramon wrapped its serpentine body around the dragon, pinning his arms to his sides. With his lower body temporarily paralyzed, that left Shinya essentially defenseless.

"Help!" Shinya spluttered as he was dragged underwater.

"No!" Ryouta roared. "Dammit kid!"

Judging from the bubbles rising to the surface, Shinya wasn't going to last long. Ryouta took a deep breath and dove in. Neither Shinya nor their attacker was very far down, and Ryouta quickly approached.

Even if he couldn't use his arms, he still had his barbed tail. And he made full use of it, pounding the distracted Seadramon on the head. That caused the sea serpent to lash out at him.

Ryouta couldn't swim as fast at the Seadramon and it sank its fangs into his left leg. The Strikedramon gritted against the pain, but not for long. Shinya had gotten out of the serpent's coils during the struggle.

Now it was Shinya's turn to use his natural weapons, his claws and fangs. The Fladramon tore his claws into the serpent's hide, leaving long bloody slashes in their wake. The wounded and enraged Seadramon swung its tail, unintentionally pushing Shinya towards the surface.

Seeing his chance, Ryouta kicked the Seadramon's snout with his free leg, causing it to release its hold.

Both dragons were running out of air by this time, and struggled to kick or push themselves towards the surface, depending on whichever limbs they still had functional. Their opponent wasn't about to let them go so easily, and quickly gave chase.

_Not good… _Ryouta thought in panic. _It'll catch us…too fast. Wait… _

The underwater struggle had partially torn the belt pouch containing his Fang Throttle. The Strikedramon twisted his tail and pushed the weapon, knocking it loose. He shot a glance towards Shinya, hoping that the Fladramon would get the message. Shinya did just as he'd hoped, snatching the weapon and fixing it to his fist.

While underwater, all their fire-based attacks were completely ineffective. But the Fang Throttle, being a laser weapon, would certainly work.

The Seadramon came right up to them, with its jaws open wide. Shinya swerved to the side, stuck the Fang Throttle against the serpent's lower jaws, and fired at point blank range. The bloody explosion took the Seadramon's head clean off as the exhausted dragons surfaced, panting and gasping for breath.

* * *

Yuri immediately found the breath crushed out of her at the attacker stomped down on her neck. It was the front, three-fingered claw of some quadruped Digimon, but she couldn't make out what kind exactly.

The stinging sensation of the petrol still had her partially blinded, but the Raptordramon wasn't about to go down so easily. Yuri twisted her upper limbs and slashed the attacker's legs with her claws.

A gruff howl sounded as the attacker's foot pulled back. Yuri immediately sprang up and snapped her jaws, making a guess as where her attacker would be. Her strike was on target, but her jaws caught some kind of armored plating instead of her opponent's flesh.

One of her foe's flailing limbs thumped against the Raptordramon's head, stunning Yuri long enough for her to be shoved aside.

This time, she was thrown some distance away. Yuri braced for an attack, which never came. Her ears caught a 'swoosh' sound, like the breath-based energy attack of a Digimon. Seconds later, the Raptordramon was tossed to the ground as a deafening explosion rang out. Before she knew what was happening, Yuri was feeling the heat emitting from a huge fire.

Realizing that she was soaked with gasoline, and hence highly flammable, Yuri was forced to run in the opposite direction from the fire.

"Scales!" The raptor muttered, finally managing to clear her vision. The attacker or attackers were long gone by then.

All that was left was the bad taste in her jaws and the burning car in the forest, which was probably what her attacker had fired at to trigger the explosion. There was nothing else she could do but retreat to the landrover and tap the com-link.

"Something big just happened Sergeant!" Eiji's voice said excitedly. "I lost the signal of our other car again. I think it might've been badly damaged or destroyed."

"Yeah, and I had a front row seat." Yuri growled sarcastically.

"Are you all right?"

"Well, let's see…I've been doused in petrol, nearly strangled and had that stolen D-PRED car blown up right in front of me. In addition, I couldn't even get a clear look or a scent of the attacker thanks to the petrol in my face."

"Sounds tough." Eiji whistled. "I guess you've had a bad day then."

"Were it so easy…" Yuri slapped the side of her head. "Look, as much as I'd like to go after that car thief, protocol dictates that I've got get that fire under control."

"Do what you can Sergeant." Eiji typed on his panel. "I'm contacting the fire department as we speak."

"Copy that. Over and out." Yuri replaced the com-link.

The Raptordramon pulled out one of the emergency water canisters and doused herself, trying to wash some of the petrol off her scales and armor first. With that done, she took a deep breath and sprinted back into the forest.

Not directly into the rapidly spreading flames, but around them.

"Rarrr!" A high-speed slash of her claws took an entire tree down, causing it to fall onto the flames.

Yuri repeated the same actions as she dashed around the perimeter of the blaze, chopping trees down and knocking them onto the burning areas. Simply throwing more flammable material onto the blaze wasn't going to be enough to stop it, but at least without much to burn, the fire wouldn't spread too far beyond its current perimeter.

She just needed to keep it under control until the humans and their fire department arrived.

* * *

"Garggh…whew…I almost died…" Shinya moaned.

Ryouta was too tired to respond, and just continued flexing his sore arms. The effects of the neuralizer chips had worn off after the Seadramon had been taken out, and Ryouta was more than happy to have the sensation back in his arms.

He didn't know how much time had passed, because all the pair had been able to do was drag themselves up onto the riverbank before collapsing. Both had wasted no time in ripping the neuralizer chips out of their scales, and in Ryouta's case tying a makeshift bandage around his injured leg. That bandage was actually made from some torn material of the Strikedramon's shorts.

The pair had been on the lookout for any other activity from the Seadramon, until they'd spotted its headless remains floating to the surface and had dragged them ashore.

A Digimon's corpse would disintegrate into data particles if it was hit by a powerful enough attack, like an explosion. Such an action would destabilize the data component of their structure, causing the flesh, or physical body to break up. In such cases, the flow of the data particles could still be traced several days after the body had disintegrated.

But in other cases the carcass remained as it was and had to be retrieved by the cleanup crews and disintegrated themselves.

Still, Ryouta was curious. Had the communication signal in his Digivice attracted the Seadramon? Was that why it had been sinking the ships?

That Seadramon had certainly been a Wild One, but it had spit neuralizer chips at them. Then again, perhaps it had accidentally swallowed a neuralizer gun, which was destroyed when Shinya blew its head off. Either way, Ryouta would have to put that down in his report.

Right now, all he wanted to do was enjoy drying off in the sun. All his soaking wet equipment, his gauntlets, shoulder plates, pants, ankle guards and utility belt, had been hung on a nearby tree to dry. His helmet was the only thing that was permanently attached to his head.

Shinya's equipment, the mask, vest, gauntlets, belt and leg armor, had been placed on the opposite side of the tree, where the now unarmored Fladramon was resting.

"Hey…" Shinya called from his seated position.

"Hm?"

"Thanks…for saving my life."

"Humph." Ryouta got to his feet. "Let's make one thing clear, you de-evolved whelpling. I wasn't about to let some Wild One drown you in a lake. Oh no, the honor of dunking you is reserved for me and me alone. And when I do, I'll make sure I do something much, much worse!"

"Well, the faceless freak has a sense of humor after all." Shinya chuckled. "So, are we friends now?"

"Dream on." The Strikedramon snorted.

"Fine then, Mr. sap-dramon!" Shinya growled. "But let's see who dunks who first!"

The Fladramon launched a sweeping kick that took Ryouta off his feet. Momentarily stunned as his chin hit the ground, Ryouta found himself grabbed by a leg and tail, and tossed into the river.

Shinya burst out in hysterical laughter. It's said that a dragon can't change the color of his scales, but Ryouta was certainly on the verge of going from purple to red.

"That's it! You are so dead!" Ryouta roared, flinging a fistful of mud at Shinya's face. It stunned the Fladramon long enough for Ryouta to grab and put him in a chokehold. "Take that! Hargh!"

Sploosh!

Naturally, Shinya didn't take too well to being dunked and struggled wildly in an attempt to get free.

"I see you two have made nice. But if you wanted to make out, how about taking it somewhere more inconspicuous?"

The two dragons snapped up at the sound of Yuri's voice and jumped away from each other, realizing the hilarity of the situation. They were both unarmored and grappling with each other in the mud.

"Hey it's not like that!" Shinya protested.

"That idea is absolutely preposterous!" Ryouta yelled furiously.

"Yeah sure…" Yuri rolled her Raptordramon eyes. "The distress signal on your Digivice finally reached my scanners and I find…"

"Male dragons absolutely do not mate…" Ryouta quickly caught himself. "…with other male dragons! And I am not an exception to this rule!"

"Fighting over territory and domination is in our ancestral blood, so don't blame us!" Shinya added in. "And maybe we act like jerks at those times because of it, but that's it!"

Yuri took note of the horrified glares she was getting and burst out laughing.

"What? Is a Sergeant not allowed to have fun?" She chuckled. "Come on, I was just pulling your tails."

The odd glares continued.

"Fine, I will not tell anyone about you two acting like bunch of hatchlings." Yuri declared, before whispering to herself. "Male hormones…all they tell them to do is fight."

Both Shinya and Ryouta sighed in relief.

"On to other business then. What happen to your car?"

"Erm…" Shinya and Ryouta glanced nervously at each other. "Uh oh…"


	5. Duty

_Digimon / Digital Monsters and all related trademarks belong to Bandai and Toei Animation. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission._

* * *

**Duty**

By nightdragon0

"So this latest incident would seem to be more than just another Wild One emergence?"

"It certainly looks that way." Captain Ishida reported. "The car theft and the attack on Sergeant Yuri were far too sophisticated to have been the work of some wild Digimon."

Like most of the other rooms within the Royal Temple, the walls of this chamber were carved out of well polished brown marble, with the flooring being constructed out of a thick gray stone. Decorating the walls and pillars were various carvings of Digimon, along with lavish decorations such as golden candle stands and a chandelier.

That gave the overall look of a medieval castle, but the technology within the Temple was amongst the most advanced in the Digital World. After all, the Royal Temple was the base of the Royal Knights. Known as the 'Keepers of the Peace', they had been the ones responsible for establishing and maintaining the peace treaty with the human diplomats.

They were also the current leaders of the various D-PRED organizations, and that was the reason why Ishida was reporting his findings to three of them now.

"Hmm, it is a possibility that we have more Separatist Digimon activity." Dukemon sat back in his chair and folded his arms. "This may be a problem."

The Royal Knight was humanoid in appearance, clad in white and red armor. That armor included a set of red and gold shoulder pads, a red cape and a helmet with a red ear-fin decoration. His helmet's visor covered all but his yellow-colored eyes. However, the knight was much taller than any human, with Ishida in his human form only standing up to approximately his stomach level.

"There's no need to make this incident public, not yet at least." Sleipmon spoke up. "We don't need another diplomatic mess involving human politics again."

Unlike his fellow knights, Sleipmon took the form of a six-legged centaur. His red Digizoid armor was decorated with various patterns, including one resembling a wolf's head on his chestplate. Sleipmon's other features were his golden horns, purple mane and golden wing-like structures on his back.

Sleipmon wasn't seated, for his body structure made it difficult for him to use conventional seating.

"He's right, we should handle the Separatists as they emerge." Alforce V-Dramon nodded. "Besides, we've had such Separatists incidents before. It's inevitable that some of our kind don't share in our vision. You'd think the humans would be used to it by now."

This knight had a more Dragoniod appearance, with blue and silver armor covering his body. Most notable were the golden V-shaped crest on his chestplate and his pair of blue leathery wings, which were neatly folded behind his back as he leaned forward in his char.

"Nevertheless, we must spread the warning to the other D-PRED branches." Dukemon decided. "To carry out duties as normal, but keep their eyes out for any similar activity. Sleipmon is right in the sense that there's no point alerting the general public for now."

"I miss the old days, when there actually was something around to fight." Alforce V-Dramon muttered.

"Be careful what you wish for." Sleipmon said as he continued typing on a data pad. "Politics is not my forte either, but it's something we all have to deal with."

"If there is nothing else, then this meeting is adjourned." Dukemon declared.

"Generals." Captain Ishida saluted. "I shall take my leave now."

* * *

Ishida slowed his pace when he heard the hurried footsteps behind him. It was quite impossible to outrun Dukemon in his current human form anyway.

"I apologize for this place being too small for you to come in your natural form Ishida." Dukemon placed an armored hand on his shoulder.

"I understand General Tristan. You know quite well I've gotten used to it by now."

"You don't have to be so formal with me, old friend." Tristan chuckled. "This isn't a meeting."

"I'm sure you already know my answer."

"Indeed I do."

The corridors of the Royal Temple were bustling with activity, with all sorts of Digimon moving about. However, each one that passed by stopped briefly to either salute or bow to acknowledge the General's presence. General Tristan was the alias which Dukemon of the Royal Knights used when meeting various human leaders.

The pair walked on in silence until they were nearly at the castle's entrance.

"Ishida…" Tristan began.

"Is this about asking me to consider coming up to the council of the Royal Knights again?" Ishida interrupted.

"We both know it's what's best for you. Despite certain incidents in the past, I'm sure that…"

"I'm a soldier, not a diplomat. You know that." Ishida looked away. "And I had a chance before. I messed it up…"

"That doesn't mean you should just give up." Tristan continued. "We all have to make difficult decisions at times. Back then, you did what you had to do. We both know you could be on the council now if you didn't keep..."

"I'm just not ready. I don't think I'll ever be." Ishida shook the knight's hand off. "I have to go. I still have work to do."

The Royal Knight made no attempt to stop Ishida as he walked out of the castle.

"Someday you'll understand, old friend." Tristan whispered. "That you need to let go…"

* * *

"Sir?"

The knocking brought Ishida out of his thoughts, turning his attention to his office doorway.

Eiji was standing there in his human form, a tall and somewhat muscular man dressed in a blue shorts, a brown sleeveless vest and a white T-shirt beneath. The humans would see his age as being around 25 and of Japanese origin, similar to how the human disguises of the others looked. However, he'd dyed his naturally black hair blond for some reason or other.

"You lot are heading for your night off?"

"Yes, we were…"

"Don't worry, our fellow branches are on standby. And I'll have the automated systems on the lookout as well."

"Sir?" It was Shinya's turn to poke the head of his human form into the office. "Permission to speak freely."

"Granted." Ishida nodded.

"Why don't you come with us boss?" Shinya broke into a more casual tone. "Everyone says the Lion's Den is a great bar. And the owner's a Digimon like us. He's got this private section where we can hang out and be ourselves, like literally, yeah?"

"Well Shinya, I…"

"Come on boss! You look a little overworked. Maybe some time to relax will do you some good."

"That's very thoughtful of you, but I'll be fine." Ishida replied. "Go and have fun. That's an order."

"Yes sir." Shinya and Eiji nodded before closing the door.

Ishida could hear them chatting excitedly as their footsteps died away. He allowed a slight smile to cross his face before turning back to his monitor.

* * *

"Keh, and I thought your driving couldn't have been worse that Ryouta's." Shinya remarked as the group locked up the car in the parking lot.

"Grrr…" Ryouta snarled, though the glare in his eyes was hidden behind his sunglasses.

"Hey, don't blame me! I'm not in human form as often as you guys." Eiji protested, cutting off Ryouta's growl.

"You mean when you're not messing around with your hair or hanging around the department stores looking for females?" Yuri nudged Eiji's arm.

"Oie! Quit giving the secrets of my life away!" Eiji cried in response.

The group made their way into the already crowded nightclub, led by Eiji, and walked up to the counter.

"Eiji! Welcome!" The huge, muscular-built bartender greeted. "It's been a while."

"Sure has Sano." Eiji laughed. "Why don't you introduce yourself? For the sake of Shinya over here."

With a grin, Sano showed off a gray Bio-Digivice strapped to his left wrist. With a flick of his hand, the bartender brought it up and waved it over his other arm. The screen flickered for a moment and showed his turn form…a beast type Digimon known as Grappleomon.

Shinya did the same, showing off the image of his true form on the screen of his Digivice.

"Take this keycard and use it on the door at the top of those stairs, to the left." Sano instructed. "I'll be up shortly."

"Head on up first and enjoy." Eiji passed the keycard on to Ryouta.

"And where are you going?" Ryouta queried.

"Couple of those girls in the corner seem to be checking me out." Eiji gestured with his eyes. "And I'm hardly one to turn them down."

"Not again." Yuri moaned, shaking her head. "Oh, come on, let's go."

Eiji split from the group as they made their way into the private room on the second floor.

One could immediately tell that the feel of the room was different. Not only was everything larger than most human standards, the walls and floors were also better reinforced. Even the chairs had tail slots in their backrests, similar to the ones back at the base.

"Ah, much better." Shinya reverted to his Fladramon form, jumping into one of the chairs by the bar. Shrinking his gauntlets into the wrist bracer form, he used his sleek claws to pop open a bottle of drink from the counter.

"They do put _cold_ drinks in the fridge, you know?" Ryouta was back in his Strikedramon form as well. Only he was standing across the room as he grabbed another bottle from a refrigerator, using his tail to slam the door shut.

"Do you really have to criticize everything I do?" Shinya growled.

"Blame me for being cynical. If you even know what the word means."

"Hey, do you think I'm stupid or something?"

"Of course. I'm merely stating a fact of…"

"Boys, cut it out." Yuri stomped her now Raptordramon feet on the ground. "Like I don't hear you two fighting enough at the base! You're both lucky Captain Ishida let you off lightly after that stolen car incident."

"Yeah well, I'm still bummed out over that myself." Shinya muttered.

"Quite troubling that some Separatist Digimon managed to outsmart all three of us." Ryouta agreed.

"Hey guys." Sano, still in his human form, poked him head in through the door. "Sorry, I'll be delayed. Got some punks making trouble in my bar, and I'll need to be throwing em' out and making em' stay out. Help yourselves in the meantime!"

"It's a perfectly normal occurrence." Ryouta said as Sano left the room. "He doesn't hurt anyone though. Most humans don't have the guts to go head-to-head with an angry lion."

"I can imagine." Shinya laughed. "I saw this sort of thing a lot while I was on attachment in Kyoto, and while I was part of D-PRED in the United States."

"Well some humans just don't appreciate the things we do for them." Yuri took a seat with another bottle of drink in claw. "Or in Sano's case, just trying to make a living. Some are simply unable to see beyond us being different from them."

"Makes me wonder why D-PRED even bothers to protect them from Wild Ones." Shinya remarked. "Besides it being in the job protocol and all."

Yuri raised her eyes at the comment, but said nothing.

"You really have no idea at all, do you?" Ryouta shook his head.

"Hey, I can't remember, all right?" Shinya replied. "I was never good at memorizing the electronic books."

"To put a long story short, some bunch of humans accidentally stumbled into the Digital World. About 20 years ago, I'd say." Sano entered the room again. "They came across some of the Royal Knights, and managed to help them in defeating the Seven Demon Lords. That was how this period of peace and calm came about."

This time, he was in his natural form. A member of the Leomon species, Sano's appearance was that of a white armored Leomon with a long orange mane.

"And you do know the Royal Knights are the highest level of command in D-PRED, do you?" Ryouta shot a glance towards Shinya.

"Grrr, I don't want to be talking about work on our night off." Shinya rocked his chair on two legs, placing his feet and tail on the table.

The sudden beeping of his Digivice startled the Fladramon, causing him to pull his feet back. Naturally, his unbalanced chair fell, sending Shinya sprawling across the floor.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"The scanners picked up a Wild Digimon reading." Yuri read the text message on her Digivice. "Captain Ishida says to take a quick look."

"On our night off?" Shinya muttered, picking himself off the floor.

"Well it is just two blocks down the street." Ryouta observed the same message. "Come on, let's make this quick."

"Hey wait!" Sano called as the trio charged out of the room. "It's crowded down there…"

"Move it!"

"Out of the way!"

"Sorry! Coming through!"

The bartender groaned as more angry shouts arose from the room below.

* * *

The sight of the three Digimon did get quite a few astonished gasps, but the D-PRED agents kept running down the street. Once they'd gotten out of the nightclub, their target was plainly obvious.

"Shouldn't this burning building be the fire department's job?" Shinya called between breaths.

The blaring of sirens was already noticeable in the distance.

"It is, but look what's at the bottom." Yuri pointed.

Stomping around the apartment's entrance was a humanoid being made entirely out of flames. A Meramon, a fire entity Digimon. The elemental let off a primal growl as it spotted the trio approach.

"Cover!" Yuri ordered.

Everyone jumped back while Ryouta kicked up a parked car by the side of the road. Their makeshift shield was just in time to intercept a pair of huge fireballs, which easily blew the vehicle apart.

"Grrr…that stung." Ryouta muttered, backing away from the burning scraps of metal.

The area had fortunately been vacated, with the last of the bystanders trickling out of view. A bolder few stayed on the edges, some with camera phones and other video capturing devices.

"Hey! Clear the area you lot!" Yuri roared angrily.

"They seldom listen." Ryouta shook his head. "Bad for them."

"Well, let's give them a show while we're here!" Shinya leapt over the burning wreckage and charged.

The Fladramon nimbly evaded a pair of fireballs by jumping to the side. Bouncing off a lamppost, Shinya shot forward with his body ablaze.

"Fire Rocket!"

Meramon made no attempt to move as Shinya crashed into its body. At least, Shinya thought he had. Instead, the Fladramon simply passed through the flames of the elemental's body.

Still in mid-flight, Shinya was suddenly grabbed by the tail.

"Huh? Oh shit…" Shinya cried as he was swung in circles before being hurled straight into the wall of the burning building.

"Great move, tails-for-brains!" Ryouta called sarcastically. The Strikedramon tried to approach, but Meramon intensified its flames and the heat forced Ryouta to back away. "Grrr…damn!"

"Who's got the good moves now?" Shinya yelled back. "You've just got the big mouth!"

Yuri would normally have told both to shut up, but she was busy fumbling in her equipment belt. While the Raptordramon lacked projectile attacks, she made up for it with a useful gadget. Tossing a large pill into her jaws, Yuri crunched down and then spat.

What emerged from her jaws was an icy breath. It caught the Meramon off-guard, leaving it screeching in pain.

"Get it now!" Yuri ordered.

Shinya drew his dual pistols and fired, while Ryouta used his laser powered Fang Throttle to shoot. However, both the bullets and the laser shot passed through the elemental's body, blowing up various parts of the road.

"Stubborn bastard!" Shinya growled.

"Looks like we'll have to use some elemental attacks too." Ryouta commented.

"Help! Help!"

"What was that?" Shinya looked up. There, in one of the windows of the blazing building, was a young human girl.

Momentarily distracted, he almost took a couple of enemy fireballs to the chest. Ryouta moved in from behind the Meramon and hurled a chunk of the broken pavement at it, managing to draw its attention back to Yuri and himself.

The humans' rescue services had arrived by this time, but their pathway was still hindered by the raging Meramon.

"Draw the Meramon away from the building!" Yuri called. "Shinya! Save that girl!"

"Let them handle it!" Shinya gestured towards the firefighters. "Rescue operations aren't our job!"

"I know it isn't our job, but we've prolonged the fight too long!" Yuri gestured. "Hurry up!"

Ryouta was already firing his Fang Throttle to get the elemental's attention.

"Help me! Please!"

Shinya took another glance up at the trapped human girl, and then holstered his guns.

* * *

The firefighters were already rushing to set up the rescue, but Shinya was much swifter. Bounding off the adjacent building, the Fladramon jumped to the second story window. He used the momentum to kick off, back to the adjacent building's wall, and then to the third story window.

By repeating the move, Shinya easily scaled the building to the eight story, where the girl was waving. The child let off a startled cry as Shinya pulled himself in through the window.

"You all right?" The Fladramon asked.

"Yes…" The frightened girl managed a nod. "But my sister is…"

"There's someone else?" Shinya gasped.

The girl managed to point to a door, which was blocked by some flaming debris. Shinya rushed over and cleared the way, pushing the door open. Smoke and flames were everywhere and even Shinya had to squint.

But he managed to spot the unconscious girl, her prone form lying under a metal table.

"Wait here." He told the other child.

Taking a step back, Shinya leapt over a couple of fallen pillars and approached the girl. However, the shift in weight of the already fragile structure caused a piece of the ceiling to fall.

"Rargh!" Shinya got himself mostly out of the way, but the debris landed nicely on his tail. Despite that, he shoved the debris off and continued.

With a roar, he grabbed the unconscious girl in his arms. Yet another piece of the roof fell as he tried to get back. This time a burning section slammed Shinya on the right shoulder.

"Garrgh!" Shinya howled in pain, leaping back into the room with the window.

A Fladramon's armor was fireproof, but Shinya himself wasn't immune to injury. However, he felt a sudden cooling feeling on his wounded shoulder and turned to see the first child.

She'd placed a wet towel on his affected shoulder, which she previously had wrapped around herself.

"Thanks." Shinya grunted.

The child nodded and smiled.

"Now hop on my back and let's get you down."

* * *

"Rarrr!" Ryouta jumped back as the Meramon took another swipe at him.

Another attempted punch forced the Strikedramon to roll aside. Ryouta instinctively let loose with a tail swipe…only to get the end of his tail set aflame.

"Argh! Scales!" The Strikedramon found himself backing away and pressing on his tail with his gloved claws to smoother the flames.

_Grrr…I'm glad Shinya isn't here to make any smart remarks!_

"Ryouta! Over here!" Yuri's voice called from behind.

Ryouta had to dodge a pair of fireballs as he leapt towards the side of the road.

"Come on ugly! Come and get me!" He taunted.

As the Meramon advanced, Ryouta rolled to the side…revealing Yuri standing behind a fire hydrant.

"Gotcha!" The Raptordramon cried triumphantly, turning the handle at the side.

The water however, trickled out instead of gushing. A rather large sweatdrop formed at the side of the Raptordramon's head.

"Oh fu…"

BOOM! The Meramon tossed a fireball, blowing up the hydrant as Yuri scrambled away. And with the hydrant blown apart, water came gushing out of the pipeline below. That got everyone nearby soaked…including the Meramon.

The elemental screeched in agony.

"Ryouta! Now!" Yuri roared.

"Strike Claw!" Ryouta slashed at the doused elemental from behind.

"Ambush Crunch!" Yuri charged up with an aura of orange energy around her body and smashed through the Meramon.

The defeated elemental let off one final howl as its body broke up into data particles.

"Pah!" Ryouta shook the water out of his mane. "You could've planned that a little better Sergeant."

"Were it so easy…"

* * *

"Ok, here we go!" Shinya hollered.

Unfortunately, repeating his previous maneuver was far more difficult with a couple of passengers along for the ride. That proved even more difficult when one of the windowsills broke, causing the Fladramon to lose his balance. The extra weight disorientated Shinya for a moment too long, but he found himself grabbed by a strong pair of arms instead of crashing into the pavement.

"Looks like you needed some help kid." Sano grinned.

"Thanks." Shinya panted as the larger Grappleomon set him and his passengers down.

"You all right?"

"Little bruised, but nothing serious." Shinya turned and waved to one of the nearby paramedics.

"Thanks for the help." The human bowed as a stretcher was brought up for the girls. "We might not have gotten to them in time if not for you."

"Anyone else still trapped in the building?" Shinya queried as he handed the girls over to the medics.

"None. We've already run the scanners several times."

"Good to hear." Shinya then leaned over the stretcher with the conscious sister, placing the towel back in her hands. "You'd better keep this."

"Thank you Mr. Fladramon." The little girl got up as kissed him at the side of his snout.

"Aw…well…" Shinya blushed as Sano slapped him on the shoulder.

The pair watched in silence as the ambulance departed. Soon after, a rather wet Ryouta and Yuri came round the corner.

"I take it that it went well for you guys too?" Shinya remarked.

"Somewhat." Ryouta replied with a shrug.

"You know why I asked you to save that girl earlier?" Yuri turned towards Shinya.

"Yeah, I guess I do." The Fladramon scratched his head. "It's not part of the job protocol, but well, it feels kinda nice."

"It's not just that. There are times when we all have to make these sorts of decisions. Knowing when you can make a difference." Yuri continued. "This one turned out well. Others may not."

"So you guessed that the firefighters wouldn't have been in time?"

"Yes."

"Is that supposed to be a lesson in moral or something?"

"You had some doubts earlier. I was trying to help you clear some of them."

* * *

"Cheers!" The trio of D-PRED agents, along with Sano, put their drink bottles together.

Despite the little bruises of their battle, the group was back in the private room of the nightclub, enjoying the time off they had left.

Just then, the door slide open and Eiji, in human form, stumbled into the room.

"Hey Eiji, where were you?" Shinya called. "You missed out on a whole load of fun…huh?"

Plastered across Eiji's cheek was a rather red, five-fingered hand mark.

"I was trying so hard…" Eiji wailed. "How was I supposed to know she had a mate?"

Everyone moaned, slapping their claws to their faces.

"Is he always like this?" Shinya whispered to Yuri.

"Nope, he's usually worse." The Raptordramon replied.

"Don't feel so bad." Sano put his claws on Eiji's shoulder. "In fact, I've got something that might cheer you up."

The Grappleomon bartender walked behind the counter and brought up several large beer jugs.

"A special brew of mine. And also far stronger that any human brews."

"Stronger eh?" Ryouta rubbed his snout. "Hey kid, let's have a contest."

"What?" Shinya slammed his claws on the table.

"Whoever can drink more! Contest only stops when someone publicly admits they've lost!" Ryouta grabbed one of the jugs. "Or passes out first."

"Grrr, so you think you're a hot-shot. Keh!" Shinya took hold of his own jug. "You're on, Sap-dramon!"

BAM! Yuri banged her own jug down beside the two dragons'.

"Count me in for this contest too."

Shinya and Ryouta glanced at each other before bursting out laughing.

"No offense Yuri, but this is a male dominance thing." Ryouta waved a claw. "I doubt you'd be able to handle it."

"No harm in trying then." Yuri winked.

"Well fine. Hey Sano, I hope you've got more of these." Shinya raised his jug.

* * *

**Notes:**

(1) Dukemon: Dub name Gallantmon.


	6. Chance Encounters

_Digimon / Digital Monsters and all related trademarks belong to Bandai and Toei Animation. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission._

* * *

**Chance Encounters**

By nightdragon0

Yuri chuckled as another gurgled groan came out of Shinya's room, whose door was slightly ajar. A similar moan came a room opposite Shinya's…the one belonging to Ryouta.

Shifting the moveable tray table away, the raptor curled up into a more comfortable seating position.

"You know, I think that was pretty mean." Eiji commented, the XV-mon's heavy footsteps easily giving away his presence.

"What?" Yuri cocked an eyebrow. Or at least the scale-covered section above her eye.

"Challenging them to a drinking contest knowing that they'd be having hangovers in the morning."

As if on cue, Shinya burst out coughing and belching out the contents of the previous night's drinks into a pail by his bunk.

"Serves them right for not knowing that dinosaurs have twice the alcohol tolerance that dragons do." Yuri huffed. "Besides, I'm still looking after them. This stuff on the tray table is their medication. I'm just waiting till they're a little better to give it to them."

"Didn't Captain Ishida tell you to make sure they wouldn't be having hangovers?" Eiji shook his head.

"Yeah!" The Raptordramon jumped to her feet.

At this point, Captain Ishida emerged from the corridor behind Yuri. Only Eiji caught sight of their commander, but when he opened his jaws to try and warn her, Yuri promptly cut him off.

"But I really don't care! Do you know what it's like hanging around with them all day and listening to their squabbling?" Yuri continued. "I'm sure you don't, because you and him don't have to do that! You're both sitting around the base on your fat tails pushing buttons while I have to play babysitter!"

The Digimon in human form paused, standing behind Yuri and saying nothing. Eiji went white in the face, but he couldn't find his voice in time.

"Besides, he doesn't have to know! These two are so reckless, they'd probably have drunk too much anyway! And after their hangovers, they won't remember a thing either." Yuri folded her claws. "So I'm in the clear as long as you keep your trap shut and not let…"

"Ahem." Captain Ishida cleared his throat.

"Eep…" The color drained out of Yuri's face as a large sweatdrop formed at the side of her head.

"After you're done giving Shinya and Ryouta their medicine, make sure you clean up their bunks." Ishida told Yuri as he continued along the corridor, without the slightest change of expression in his face.

Yuri held her breath until the Captain's footsteps died off. Meanwhile, Eiji was quietly tiptoeing away in another direction.

"EIJI!" Yuri snarled. "WHY didn't you tell me?"

"Forgive me!" The XV-mon squeaked as he darted away.

"Were it so easy…" Yuri growled.

In the room behind her, it was now Ryouta's turn to start barfing.

* * *

"Captain Ishida! I didn't expect you to be calling so soon." The figure on the video screen exclaimed.

"Just wanted to check on your status, Lieutenant Mika." Ishida chuckled.

"Not much going on other than the usual stuff in these officer training courses." Mika replied. While her voice was feminine, her Digimon form was that of a rather imposing armored dragon.

A dragon Digimon species known as Sealsdramon. These were a humanoid dragon with the same body structure as a Fladramon, only that they were clad entirely in black military style armor. Strapped across various sections were equipment pouches and hunting knives, including the blade on the tip of her tail.

The helmet was one consisting of a single horn at the rear of the head, and an open face. Included in the design was a moveable visor with eyepieces designed for both long-distance and infrared views. Mika currently had that visor down over her reptilian eyes, indicating that she'd probably recently returned from a training mission.

"A couple of weeks and it'll officially be over." Mika continued. "Though it might take a while more to clear up the administrative matters."

"That includes you being a full Lieutenant now." Ishida remarked.

"What's on your mind Captain? Trouble back in Japan?" Mika queried. She'd worked with him long enough to recognize when he had something on his mind. "Everything seems to be well under control from the news reports we've been getting."

"True, but some things are suspicious. A number of missing links in the recent Wild One emergences."

"Such as?"

"The one just last night. A Meramon appeared in a residential district." Ishida leaned back against his office chair and folded his arms. "And there were no traces of any abnormal Digital Gates nearby. However, investigators found parts of the sewage system charred and metal pipes melted."

"So that just means the Meramon got in through the sewers, right?"

"True. Only that the traces of the Digital Gate which it was believed to have come through was miles away, and above ground."

"Wait, are you thinking that…"

"Yes, it could be that the Meramon was deliberately led into the city."

"By whom?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out right now." Ishida sighed. "Of course, these are just the initial reports from the investigation team."

"But your gut feeling tells you something's just not right, isn't it?" Mika said.

"It could be the new Separatist Digimon."

"So in other words, you'd like me back as soon as possible." Mika smiled. "Hey, I miss the place too. I'm looking forward to coming back."

"Don't worry too much, the team here is working well enough."

* * *

**1 week later…**

_This is definitely not producing any results… _Ryouta thought unhappily.

Leaning against the railings at bus stop, across the road from a power station, might have qualified as a reasonable stakeout…if it weren't the middle of the afternoon. This area was far enough from the Digimon Sectors for a Wild One to be easily noticeable.

A couple of cases of mysterious power losses had been enough to merit D-PRED's involvement. The authorities obviously believed some Wild Digimon were involved, even though none had been caught in the act yet.

Since that other affected power plants had been in this general area, that Digimon was suspected to move on to this one.

That made sense, but he didn't get why they were doing a stakeout in blazing hot afternoon. The previous power failures had occurred at night, so it was likely that this Wild One struck at night too.

The dragon in human disguise wiped his brow. Perhaps it was just the heat getting to his head. That in addition to the aftereffects of having a hangover.

_Grrrr…I had the kid beat for sure! Then Yuri had to go and mess everything up…_

"Erm…excuse me…" A sudden voice jerked Ryouta out of his thoughts. Mostly because the speaker was talking to him in English.

She was an attractive young woman, by human standards. While Ryouta couldn't tell for sure, he guessed that she wasn't a native of Japan. The young woman was also fumbling with a large tourist map.

"Do you know where is…"

"No…I…" Ryouta stuttered in English as he backed away. "I no speak…English…"

"Oh, I'm very sorry." The woman spoke.

By this time, Ryouta had turned his back and begun walking away. At that moment, Shinya appeared from around the corner, causing Ryouta to pause and watch as he approached the lady.

"Could I help you miss?" Shinya asked her in English.

"Yes please." The lady nodded. "I'm trying to find out how to get to…"

The rest of the conversation was lost to Ryouta as he moved further away.

Shinya eventually saw the lady off with a polite bow. The disguised Fladramon then came up to Ryouta, who had lit a cigarette.

"Hey, you don't have to be so mean to tourists, you know?" Shinya switched back to Japanese. "It's bad for the economy if you scare all of them off."

"I had no idea what she was saying, all right?" Ryouta growled.

"She was just looking for the nearest railway station." Shinya shrugged. "I'm sure you could've figured it out by looking at her map. There was Japanese text on it after all."

"I don't need a lecture on morale. Least of all from…hey!"

Shinya abruptly snatched his cigarette and extinguished it on the top of a nearby bin.

"Stop smoking too. It's bad for you."

"Grrr…" Ryouta frowned. "Quit bothering me tails-for-brains! I know Eiji just took over the watch from you, so hurry up and go home!"

"Fine, fine, this is what I get for coming to check on you." Shinya huffed as he walked off.

* * *

The day seemed to drag on more slowly than ever, much to Ryouta's dismay. Watching the endless stream of cars and humans passing by was really grinding his nerves.

But when he fumbled for his cigarette pack, Ryouta realized that he had no sticks left.

_Blasted kid!_

Glancing from the time display on his Digivice to the power plant across the road, the disguised Strikedramon decided to drop by the convenience store for a while. After all, he could get there and back faster than any mere human.

His mind made up, Ryouta slipped off the road and into an alleyway between buildings. Reverting to his true Strikedramon form, Ryouta stretched his limbs and snapped his tail about.

_I'll never get over how cramped I feel in human form. _The D-PRED agent thought as he scaled the wall and leapt up onto the roof of the building.

By jumping from building to building, he could definitely get to his destination faster than going by the ground route.

* * *

"So my dad was always telling me to never ever lie…unless it was completely necessary." Eiji continued. "Then he would start giving me tips."

Both Eiji and his newfound friend burst out laughing.

While Eiji wasn't normally one for field work, it had seemed that Shinya and the others needed a little help with this one.

And taking on this job had turned out to be a good idea after all. It was amazing what striking up a conversation with a nice hot chick and offering to buy her a drink could do.

Since there had been a nice little cafe close by, it had been much more beneficial than standing out in the sun. Besides, he was still doing his job…the power plant was still in sight from where he was seated.

"You've really got the charm." The girl, named Haruka, giggled.

"That's what I'm told." Eiji smirked, brushing away the hair of his human form.

"And such a good sense of perfume and fashion of both sexes."

"Right on the mark." Eiji took a sip of his cola.

"In fact, you're just like my boyfriend!"

Eiji immediately choked and started coughing. In panic, Haruka jumped up and thumped him on the back.

"Oh my, are you all right?"

"I'm fine…" Eiji breathed.

"Excuse me, that must be him calling now." Haruka fumbled for her ringing cell phone. "Hello?"

The girl turned away and Eiji moaned, slapping himself on the face. No wonder she had been talking so much about getting Eiji to take a look at her fashion store. She hadn't really been interested in him at all!

"You'll be late? Again?" Haruka continued talking on the phone. "What? Another power loss? Didn't you guys fix that one up already? Hello? Hello?"

Shaking off his depression, Eiji looked up into her worried face.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

"It's strange, the line got cut off." Haruka replied.

"Does your boyfriend happen to work at the power plant there by any chance?" Eiji pointed.

"Why yes! He said he was down in the basement checking on something." Haruka nodded. "Must've been interference in the signal."

"Excuse me, but I have to go." Eiji leapt up. "Duty calls!"

"Hey wait!"

Eiji was already darting down the street by then, flipping open his Digivice and bringing it to his ear.

"D-PRED report! I think our target's struck!"

* * *

"This is Yuri! Message received." Yuri dashed down the crowded street to where her car was parked. "Meet up with Ryouta before your engage. He should be close by."

"He doesn't seem to be Sergeant." Eiji replied. "I'll check it out first. And don't worry, I'll be careful."

"All right. Shinya's back at base, but he'll get down there ASAP."

Closing her Digivice, Yuri leapt into the car and started the engine. Or at least, she tried to. The machine simply grunted and died off.

"What the?" A couple more tries of cranking the key produced no results. It was only then that Yuri realized the inner lights of the car had been left on, thus draining the battery.

"Scales!"

Yuri thumped the dashboard in frustration. Still, there was nothing else she could do but make her way on foot. The spot she'd parked at was fortunately close to a warehouse district, which wouldn't be too crowded.

With her Raptordramon speed, she could easily cut through the area and take a shortcut to the power plant.

"Charge!" Yuri brought up her orange Digivice and slid it over her arm. "D-Break!"

Shifting into her natural form, Yuri began sprinting between the warehouses…and abruptly stopped short. With her senses back to their normal level, the raptor caught a whiff something she hadn't before…the scent of Digimon.

"Strange…" Using her nose, Yuri followed the scent and soon traced it to one of the warehouses.

Its huge door was still shut and nothing seemed out of the ordinary until she got closer. Upon inspection, Yuri found the lock had been broken open. Not only that, but there was a set of three-fingered claw marks on the door.

Those definitely could not belong to any human. The strange Digimon scent was strong too. Not a species she could identify, but a Digimon species nevertheless.

"Shinya, are you there?" Yuri brought up her Digivice.

There was a burst of static before Shinya's voice came over the speaker.

"On my bike now. What's up?"

"Home in on my signal and meet up with me." Yuri ordered.

"What's going on Sergeant?"

"More trouble."

Taking several steps back, the Raptordramon lowered her head and readied herself. With a roar, Yuri charged the door, taking the whole thing down in the process.

* * *

_Dammit! Why now? _Ryouta silently cursed as he raced back to the power plant.

He'd taken a little too long queuing at the convenience store, and now found himself leaping across rooftops as he tried to make his way back. Back to where he was supposed to have been waiting.

_Why always me?_

"Eiji! Are you there!" The Strikedramon called into his Digivice.

"Ryouta? Where were you?" Eiji panted.

"Thought I saw something." Ryouta lied. "Went to check. I'll be there soon!"

"Got that. I'm heading in first!"

In-between strapping his Digivice back to his belt and his fuming, Ryouta missed a step and tripped on the ledge of the rooftop.

"Rargghh!"

Tumbling over the edge, Ryouta immediately found himself with a face full of someone's laundry, which was hanging on a clothesline between the buildings.

The Strikedramon's struggling easily snapped the clothesline. That sent him swinging straight into the brick wall, with a rather loud and embarrassing splat. Unable to hold on, Ryouta slipped and fell straight into a dumpster in the alleyway below.

Ryouta's furious roar was muffled out as the dumpster's lid slammed shut on his head. The Strikedramon shoved the lid open again, sending a whole pile of trash flying out as well. It was a little too late, for he was already covered in all sorts of strange smelling and sticky liquids.

_Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse…_

* * *

"Hey, what the?"

"Grrr…we've got company!"

Yuri drew to a halt, taking a moment to examine the two Digimon inside the warehouse.

One was an orange-scaled dragon clad in black samurai armor. He was quadruped and wingless, but the armor definitely offered him a great degree of protection. That main armor was black, with purple layering the neck guard. Red armored plates also covered his shoulders and thighs.

Yuri could practically see the dragon's three-fingered claws crunching into the ground in rage.

The other resembled a large, blue-furred wolf. He had a long light blue mane around his neck and was equipped with a pair of red gloves around his forepaws.

Gin Ryuumon and Gaogamon were their names respectively. Judging from the number of open crates and machine parts scattered about, the two had been ransacking the warehouse.

"D-PRED!" Yuri identified herself in a commanding voice. "You're in violation of the law!"

Both Digimon took a step back, unsure of what to do.

"Dude!" Gaogamon gestured with his snout. He was the first one who had spoken earlier. "She was the one you fought with the last time!"

"Fought?" Yuri repeated, puzzled.

"Ignatius! You weren't supposed to let her know!" Gin Ryuumon roared.

"Eep! Sorry man!" Gaogamon cringed.

It wasn't hard to identify that the Gin Ryuumon was the one in-charge. But wait…an armor-clad dragon with three-fingered claws…

"The petrol!" Yuri snarled. "You were the one who threw it in my face!"

"Excellent deduction lady." Gin Ryuumon rose to stand on his hind legs and clapped his foreclaws. "The petrol was a bit out of my style. But this time, I intend to finish what I started. Rarrrgghhhh!"

Gin Ryuumon pounced, forcing Yuri to roll away.

With a roar of her own, the Raptordramon whipped her opponent's face with her tail. The dragon drew back as Yuri lashed out with her claws. But at the last second, he twisted his body and blocked the claw attack with his shoulder plates.

Yuri stumbled from the failed attack and her foe headbutted her chest, sending the raptor tumbling to the ground.

"Tekkoujin!" Gin Ryuumon fired a spear-like projectile from his jaws, narrowly missing Yuri as she moved.

"Spiral Blow!" Gaogamon utilized his energy attack, a burst of wind, which slammed into Yuri as she landed.

Yuri smashed into a stack of crates, dazed and growling in fury. Both the enemy Digimon were now on either side of her, cutting off any form of retreat.

* * *

"Coming through!" The roar of the motorcycle's engine drowned out Shinya's cry as he rode into the warehouse at full speed, bashing headlong into the Gaogamon.

"Garrrgghhh!" The blue wolf was sent flying, smashing into another pile of crates.

Without waiting, the Fladramon turned his motorcycle with one claw and fired the pistol he held in the other.

"Boujinha!" Gin Ryuumon crossed his arms and curled up as his body glowed with a golden aura.

All of Shinya's shots simply bounced off the dragon's samurai armor. Undaunted, Shinya cranked the bike's engine and raced forward.

Shinya kept firing and Gin Ryuumon was forced to maintain his defensive technique, only jumping away when Shinya had almost reached him.

"Tekkoujin!" Gin Ryuumon fired off his projectile.

Swerving his bike into a skid, Shinya pushed off it, vaulting clear over his foe's projectile. Gin Ryuumon's eye widened in surprised.

"What?"

"Fire Rocket!" The Fladramon launched his trademark attack, setting his body ablaze as he shot off like a missile.

Gin Ryuumon could only block with his arms as Shinya crashed into him, sending the samurai dragon spinning into the warehouse wall. The groaning dragon was left to peel himself off the wall as Shinya landed neatly to the side.

BAM!

Startled, Shinya turned to find his motorcycle had smashed into the warehouse wall in a similar manner. Unfortunately for him, the machine had been split in two by the impact and was crushed beneath a pile of broken crates.

"My bike!" Shinya roared in horror. "I just had the engine tuned up! You bastard! I'm gonna make you pay for ruining my bike!"

"Pah!" Gin Ryuumon shakily got to his feet, spitting out blood from his jaws. "That bike will be the least of your problems when I rip your head off!"

"Keh!" Shinya cracked his knuckles. "I've been looking forward to a good fight!"

"Shinya!" Yuri called. The Raptordramon was already on her feet, and facing off with the Gaogamon.

"I can handle this bastard!" Shinya nodded. "You take care of the dog!"

"Hey! I am not a dog!" Gaogamon fumed. "I'm a wolf!"

"Which is a member of the canine family too." Yuri cut in with a smirk. "So that also makes you a dog in a sense."

"Shinya, is it?" Gin Ryuumon growled. "Hahaha, this will be an interesting fight."

"You and I are in agreement then…" Shinya holstered his pistols and activated his gauntlets, closing them over his claws.

"Varon." Gin Ryuumon gestured to himself. "That's my name. I want you to remember it so that can be the last thing you scream when I'm tearing your lungs out."

"You talk big Varon." Shinya snarled, stepping into a battle stance. "Let's see how you fight!"


	7. Second Perspective

_Digimon / Digital Monsters and all related trademarks belong to Bandai and Toei Animation. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission._

* * *

**Second Perspective**

By nightdragon0

_She said he was in the basement…so it should be this way…_ Eiji made his way across the main compound.

Getting in had been a bit of a hassle, and he'd been tempted to just revert back his normal form and fly over the fence. But the security guard had eventually gotten the message and sounded an alarm, which in turn was getting the workers to evacuate for the time being.

In a way, the blaring alarms might not have been a good idea, as they'd probably scare away whatever Digimon was leeching the electricity by now. Or perhaps he'd overreacted, and this was just a false alarm?

Finally, the agent found the double doors leading to the basement and quickly descended. While the stairs were uneventful, Eiji found the door at the bottom locked.

_Strange, they shouldn't be locking doors during an evacuation procedure. Unless… _Eiji put his ear to the door and tried to block out the blaring alarms.

Some muffled cries were coming from the other side. There was some rhythmical thumping too…

"Hey, whoever's there! Stand back! I'm taking the door down!" Eiji whipped out his Digivice and flipped it open. "Charge! D-Break!"

Sliding the Digivice along the length of his arm had the effect of charging it up with a blue aura.

The D-Break, or Digital Break, was what the name implied: breaking the Digital field that kept up their human disguises. Digital Monster data was still readable even when in human form. And this was the reason for sliding the Digivice along the arm…to allow it to read their data.

Now back in his true XV-mon form, Eiji roared and kicked the door down.

A group of four workers was on the floor, crying out in panic as Eiji poked his draconic head in.

"Hey, I'm the good guy, all right?" Eiji told them, trying his best to put on a smile. And that was actually a scary-looking thing considering he was an almost 7 foot tall dragon with razor sharp teeth. "I'm here to get you out."

"We're saved!" The first one gasped.

"They suddenly came out of nowhere! Everyone panicked."

"We were trapped by debris!"

"Those insect things are back there!" Another of the workers pointed. "I think they were chewing on the circuits."

"I'll do everything I can." Eiji nodded. "You lot get out of here quick."

"Thank you." The first man bowed, before gesturing for his co-workers to follow.

"At least they sent an ugly dragon to rescue us." A passing worker whispered to another. "I couldn't stand any more insects."

Eiji still caught the words over the background noise and frowned.

_Humph, some gratitude. _He thought. _Some people have no taste! I'm the most handsome, best-looking dragon Digimon around!_

With the workers out of the way, Eiji entered the corridor they'd been trapped in. It was pretty narrow now that he was larger in size. The XV-mon's tail twitched about in agitation at not having any wing-space.

"Hey, watch your head!" A worker called.

WHAM!

"Rarrggghhh!" The XV-mon's head went right into a low section of the ceiling. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"Your tail…"

"Yargh!" Eiji's tail snagged a batch of loose wiring, causing him to trip and fall flat on his face.

All the workers present exchanged worried glances (with large sweatdrops).

* * *

To say that it was fun would've been an understatement. Varon was having the thrill of his life.

Lowering his head, the Gin Ryuumon rammed his foe in the chest. As the latter stumbled from the impact, Varon swept his tail across the floor, taking the Fladramon's feet out from under him.

Varon brought his tail down, only to have Shinya roll out of the way. The agile blue dragon snapped back to his feet and smashed his tail into Varon's chest. Despite the Gin Ryuumon's armor, the impact still hurt.

The blow was followed by a 360 degree spinning side kick. With a Fladramon's body structure, that meant both his tail and one foot contacting with Varon's jaw.

Before he knew what was happening, Varon had hit the ground. Feeling a warm, salty liquid in his mouth, Varon rose and spat out a couple of broken fangs. Wiping the blood off his jaws, he turned back towards Shinya.

The armored dragon stood in a battle stance, with his jaw set in grim determination.

In the background, Varon could see his partner, Ignatius, leaping around, firing off his Spiral Blow projectile. His opponent, the Raptordramon, was running up the walls and using leaping lunges with her talons to attack.

Growling, Varon turned back to his own opponent and begun charging his projectile attack. He had no time to be worrying about his partner for now.

Seeing the glow in the Gin Ryuumon's jaws was enough to get Shinya to fire his own projectile.

"Knuckle Fire!"

Varon swerved back and drew to his feet, rearing back his head. Shinya took it as in indication that Varon was about to fire and leapt away from the projectile's assumed path.

The Gin Ryuumon did fire. However, instead of letting his spear-shaped projectile fly, Varon grabbed the energy spear as it emerged. With a spin, he redirected the projectile. His efforts were rewarded by a roar of pain from Shinya.

The Fladramon crashed into a pile of crates with the spear embedded in his left thigh. Varon charged up to him and assaulted his foe with a fury of punches and claw slashes. The lightly armored Fladramon was too stunned to defend himself as Varon tail swiped him to the ground.

"Here, let me help you with that." Varon grinned, grabbing hold of the short spear, which was firmly stuck in Shinya's thigh.

"Rarrrgghhh!" Shinya let off a howl of agony as Varon shoved the spear all the way through the scale and flesh. The sharp point had emerged from the other side of Shinya's leg, effectively disabling it.

Moving to the side, Varon launched his claws for Shinya's neck. The Fladramon grabbed hold of Varon's claws and suddenly smirked. Immediately, the Gin Ryuumon felt heat emitting from his foe's claws. Roaring, he tried to let go, only to be held back by Shinya's vice-like grip.

Varon felt his opponent's good foot against his torso and was suddenly tossed into the air.

"Claw Express!" Shinya's gauntlets glowed with a blue aura as he launched a series of slashes against Varon's airborne form.

Varon hit the floor in a daze, struggling to his feet. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right thigh and looked down to find his own spearhead embedded in the scales there. Snarling, he realized that Shinya had broken off the spearhead and thrown it right back at him, hitting the unarmored part of his leg.

With a howl, Shinya ripped the remains of the spear out of his leg, tossing the pieces aside.

"Now we're even!" The Fladramon roared, spitting out a mouthful of blood, as well as several broken fangs. However, he was clearly limping because of his injured left leg.

"Hahahah!" Varon laughed, despite the pain. "This is the best fight I've had in ages!"

"That's enough you two." A deep male voice sounded over Varon's earpiece.

Varon frowned, having completely forgotten that the earpiece was hidden beneath his helmet.

"You've done enough. As long as you have the part, fall back for now."

Panting and dripping with sweat, Ignatius landed beside Varon, having heard the same message.

"Remember what I've thought you."

By this time, Yuri had stepped up to Shinya's side. The raptor was a little bruised, but otherwise in better shape than Shinya.

Ignatius shot Varon an uncertain glance, as if waiting for approval. In response, Varon pointed downwards with his claws, and then moved to face the D-PRED agents.

"Remember this!" Varon roared. "This is only the beginning!"

With that, Ignatius fired a Spiral Blow into the ground, stirring up a huge cloud of dust and concrete chips. Both D-PRED agents could only draw back and cover their faces.

* * *

The corridor eventually opened into a larger area, something Eiji was quite thankful for. The alarms had stopped by this time, but the dimly lit area didn't exactly make him feel much better.

However, a soft buzzing caught his ears and the blue dragon sped up in his stride. His quarry turned out to be just around the next bend, and in plain sight.

Kokuwamon, a small machine Digimon resembling a sliver stag beetle. Three of the Child-level Digimon were clustered around a power box in the wall, nibbling at it with their mandibles.

Eiji let off a roar, causing the trio to scatter. The dragon lunged for the nearest one, slicing it down with his claws. Another of the insects flew around and sank its scissor arms into the scales of his leg.

The XV-mon struggled and shook it off, leaving a bleeding scar along the wounded section of his leg. The other two had now come round and zapped him with bursts of electricity.

"Rargh!" Eiji dropped to his knees, but managed to let off one X-laser before he fell. The energy beam caught one of the Kokuwamon in the air and disintegrated the mechanical insect completely.

Enraged by the loss of their own, the remaining two Kokuwamon lunged at him from either side. Eiji managed to tail whip one away, while the other latched on to his wing. Roaring, the dragon reached over and managed to rip the insect off.

"Strong Crunch!" Eiji clamped his jaws down on the beetle, ripping the Digimon in half. Tossing the pieces aside, the dragon turned to the last Kokuwamon.

The beetle let off a terrified yelp and abruptly burrowed into the ground.

Eiji walked over and examined the hole, which was much too small for him to follow. It was also too dark to see anything below.

"Ryouta, you there?" Eiji brought up his Digivice.

"I'm almost at the plant." The speaker carried over the sound of the Strikedramon's panting.

"Chill, I just took care of them." Eiji smirked. "Just a bunch of Kokuwamon."

"So the target was there…"

"Yeah, but the last one just fled." Eiji continued, walking over to the power box. "Hmm, looks like they were draining the electricity in small quantities. I'm guessing they were doing that at certain intervals too. No wonder the workers didn't realize it."

"Save the theories for the report." Ryouta growled.

"What, are you disappointed that the technician got to have all the action?" Eiji chuckled. "Well, I…"

That was when the floor gave way beneath him. Eiji was quite literally so startled that he forgot to fly, dropping his Digivice in the confusion.

"Eiji? Eiji! What's going on?" Ryouta's voice called.

There was apparently a lower level of the basement, one which Eiji's face smacked hard into. He got up to find himself staring straight into the face of an Adult-level Kabuterimon. The four-armed insect was larger than him, covered in a dark blue carapace with the grey horned head of a beetle.

At least half a dozen more Kokuwamon were clustered around the Kabuterimon, chattering excitedly. The larger beetle lunged forward, seizing Eiji's right arm as he tried to move. Eiji swiped with his left claw, only to have that caught as well. The Kabuterimon's remaining arms caught hold of his left leg in one hand, his right leg and tail in the other.

"X-las…" The XV-mon was in the process of launching the energy beam from his chest when the Kabuterimon suddenly spun him around, readjusted its grip, and shoved him chest-first into the wall.

"Rarrr! No fair!" Eiji groaned, realizing that he couldn't fire his laser in this position. Then, he noticed all the Kokuwamon flying excitedly around him. "Oh shit! Nice bugs…nice bugs…"

The insects were suddenly all over him, clawing at his scale and flesh.

* * *

"Damn!" Shinya cursed, limping over to the newly formed pit in the ground.

Peering in, the Fladramon realized the tunnel had already been blocked off.

"Man, how did they manage to seal that off so fast?" He panted.

"The answer is because they never even used it!" Yuri growled, pulling Shinya's head up and pointing him to a neatly formed hole in the wall. "Come on!"

Forgetting about Shinya's injured leg, Yuri dragged the limping Fladramon out through the hole.

"Grrr…" The Raptordramon growled, glancing around.

"Hey!" A voice called.

Yuri turned to see a pair of young humans (she guessed aged approximately 20 to 22) standing by the side of the road. Both were dressed in blue coveralls, probably some workers at the warehouses.

However, the taller one was rather fair and had his blond hair in a crew cut. The other was black with his head shaven bald. The two seemed to be of Western descent, but both immediately spoke in fluent Japanese.

"These two Digimon just ran past." The dark-skinned one said.

"Yeah, this armored dragon and a blue dog thing." The blond-haired one added in.

Unbeknown to Yuri, the black man was about to say something when his companion kicked the back of his leg.

"Eh yeah, those weird things." The black man continued. "They sure ran off in a hurry."

"We're apprehending them." Yuri told the two, flipping open her phone-Digivice and showing off the D-PRED badge within. The badge was commonly recognized as another 'police badge' by the general public.

"Which way did they go?" Shinya asked.

Both men pointed to the left.

"Grrr…that bastard couldn't have gotten far!" Shinya snarled, breaking into a half limp, half run. "Wait till I get my claws on him!"

"Thanks." Yuri replied. "I suggest you two leave this area for now. It might not be safe."

"Uh sure thing." The humans nodded, before running around the corner and disappearing.

_At least some humans are pretty helpful. _Yuri thought as she broke into a run.

* * *

**Zeta Terminal, Digital World. 6 years ago…**

"Hey, a call just came in!" Sakurai walked over.

"What?" Ryouta looked up, his jaws still full of sizzle hot meat. "Our shift just finished."

"Some bunch of kids fooling around on the high bridge again." The Shadramon reported, glancing down at the message on his Digivice's screen.

A Shadramon was an insect type Digimon with a humanoid body structure. Clad in fiery red armor similar to a Fladramon's, with a pair of butterfly-like wings.

"Um…" Ryouta nodded, still chewing.

The Strikedramon wasn't in any mood to leave the shopping mall they were having dinner in, especially since they were now off duty. The crowd of Digimon around paid no heed to either of the two D-PRED agents as they continued their conversation.

"Do we really have to go?"

"Not really." Sakurai shrugged.

"Then let's leave it to the others." Ryouta gestured to his own Digivice screen. "Look, some other units have responded already."

"Well, we happen to be pretty close." Sakurai stood up. "I'll just take a quick look since I can fly."

"If it's the usual bunch of troublemakers, they'll be gone before you get there."

"I expect so." Sakurai chuckled. "Get some drinks while I'm gone."

His senior was quite insistent on going, which was just Sakurai's nature.

"Sakurai…" Ryouta began.

"Hm?"

The Strikedramon felt bad, considering that Sakurai was his upper study, Ryouta should've been the one going, and not him. However, he pushed the thought aside.

"You want Espresso, right?" Ryouta asked.

"Haha, you know me too well already." Sakurai waved a claw as he strode off.

Sakurai would be gone for five minutes. What could go wrong? And protocol certainly didn't need him to stick to his senior like glue.

* * *

_A lot went wrong that day… _Ryouta shook his head furiously. _It's not going to happen again! I won't lose another teammate this way!_

The Strikedramon tore down the corridor, hopping over debris and ducking beneath low sections until he came to the area with the hole in the ground. Now that the hole had been greatly enlarged, Ryouta could clearly see the entire scene below.

Eiji was being pinned against a wall by a Kabuterimon, with a group of small Kokuwamon chewing on him.

Ryouta readied his Fang Throttle, but there was too great a risk of Eiji being injured in the blast. Instead, he leapt off the upper level and fired the laser weapon at the ground. The small explosion threw up a burst of small rocks, scaring the Kokuwamon away.

"Strike Fang!" Ryouta's body glowed with orange flames and he charged, ramming the Kabuterimon aside. In the same motion, he spun round and fired the Fang Throttle again, taking out a couple of the Kokuwamon.

"Ugh…better late than never." Eiji grinned, pulling himself to his feet. The bloodied red patches were clearly visible against his blue scales, but he hadn't lost his sharp tongue.

"Be quiet and help." Ryouta snarled.

The Kabuterimon had gotten to its feet and launched a series of energy bolts, its Mega Blaster attack. Ryouta broke into a roll and returned fire with the Fang Throttle, causing the beetle to take to the sky.

"Gotcha!" Eiji appeared from the other side. "X-laser!"

Their opponent dropped down to evade the laser, and found itself right in Ryouta's path.

"Strike Claw!" Ryouta's flaming claws slashed across the insect's body, shoving it across the room.

Eiji dropped out of the air, catching the Kabuterimon around the neck. The force of his motion, plus his added body weight, cracked the insect's carapace with a loud crunch. The wounded Digimon let off a loud shriek as greenish liquid begun to seep out of the cracks.

"X-laser!" Eiji's attack couldn't miss from this range. At the same time, the XV-mon used the motion to propel himself away from the Kabuterimon's mangled corpse.

The remaining Kokuwamon had fled by this time, leaving Ryouta and Eiji standing in the room, panting.

"You all right?" Ryouta finally asked.

"No, I'm not all right." Eiji muttered angrily.

The Strikedramon stood in silence, although it wasn't possible to tell what he was thinking due to his built-on helmet.

"I got like a couple inches of my tail nicked off!" Eiji held his tail up for emphasis. "It'll take a while to grow back! I need a good, flexible tail tip for picking up the nice hot dragonesses, you know?"

"Keh, whine all you want." Ryouta huffed, walking away. "I'm going to look for the rest of those Kokuwamon."

"Hey! I was kidding man!" Eiji called as he retrieved his fallen Digivice. "I'm thankful for you saving me! Hey! Ryouta!"

The Strikedramon had already turned and disappeared around a corner.

"Fine! Be a grouch then! You egoistical purple freak!" Eiji called after him. "This is why we blue dragons are far more popular than you! Hey! Hey! Are you even listening? Hey!"

* * *

"This sucks…" Yuri growled, cracking her knuckles.

"Yeah, they gave us the slip." Shinya finished tying a bandage around his injured left thigh. "Gargh!"

The two had given up and returned to the warehouse after several minutes of fruitless searching. Yuri had come to the decision that there was little chance in catching up now. The varied scents of fuel and chemicals around the warehouse area also made it difficult for the raptor to sniff out anything.

"Good job though." Yuri told her colleague.

"Thanks."

"How's the damage?"

"My leg?" Shinya looked up from his seated position on a crate. "Keh, just a flesh wound. He didn't hit the bone or anything."

"Good, then we can head down to the power plant and help the others clean up."

"Err…actually…rarggh! Arrghh!" Shinya moaned, clutching his stomach. "Garrhh! My spleen!"

"Trying learning where your spleen actually is." Yuri snarled, jabbing the left side of Shinya's back, just below his ribcage.

"Ow! Ow! Ok! Ok! But I was running on adrenaline then!" Shinya grunted. "It's all gone now that I missed the chance to take out the bastard who wrecked my bike!"

"I seem to recall that the bike was your own fault." Yuri clicked her clawed-talons. "Besides, it's just a bike…"

"Just a bike?" Shinya blurted out, waving his claws about for emphasis. "It's not just a bike! It's a freaking Ducati! And a modified 2008 model! Do you know how much these things cost?"

"You can recover the wreckage later."

"But…"

"Don't make me pull these three stripes on you soldier." Yuri's eyes narrowed as she flipped open her Digivice, showing off the three stripes of her Sergeant rank.

"All right! All right! I get the idea!" Shinya got off his crate, and then muttered under his breath. "Homicidal female…"

"What was that?" Yuri bared her fangs.

"Uh nothing!" Shinya squeaked, jumping up onto the rooftop.

Smirking, Yuri proceeded to follow Shinya along the ground.

* * *

"Hey, Varon?"

"Hmm?" The youth looked up, still continuing to run his hands through his blond hair.

"You really shouldn't have been picking a fight with that Fladramon, you know?"

Varon turned to his African-American companion, who was standing by his side at the empty bus stop.

"Boss is probably going to be mad dude."

"Doesn't matter." Varon shrugged. "We got the part he wanted. That'll make him happy."

A black car pulled up and both men got in. A relatively ordinary sight along just another street in the city.

"I see you got into a bit of a scuffle." The driver spoke. He was a huge, heavy built Japanese man in his late 40s, with shoulder length black hair. He was currently dressed in a black suit with a tie, as if he'd just gotten back from some executive meeting.

"What you were saying was true Mr. Zola." Varon said. "D-PRED did finally find out about us."

"Of course, I didn't say I was angry at you, did I?" Zola let off a slight grin.

"That's a relief Sir." Ignatius breathed from his position in the back seat.

"But they didn't find out about anything else. Especially these." Varon tapped a red-colored, rectangular device strapped around his right wrist. "We changed back to our normal forms and we easily lost 'em."

"Good." Zola nodded. "It's also important that you understand what your Digimon forms are capable off. Nothing short of the real thing, with enough training."

"I understand that pretty well." Varon nodded. "Unfortunately, all eyebrow dog back there did was run around in circles."

"Dude, a Gaogamon's a wolf!" Ignatius protested. "Hey wait, is it really true? I have big eyebrows when I'm in that form?"

"You chose it yourself, so don't ask me." Varon chuckled.

"Well you're American, and you chose a samurai dragon as your form! How does that make sense dude?"

"I'm half Japanese. Go figure."

"Enough joking around guys." Zola said. "You want to hear about your next mission?"

"Do I get a chance to bust those guys asses?" Varon cracked his knuckles.

"The time will come eventually Varon." Zola replied. "In the meantime, I have to make a few calls, and plan our operations more carefully. We don't want D-PRED interfering…until the right time…"

Zola raised his arm to turn the steering wheel, causing his sleeve to roll back. Strapped to the wrist there was a grey, cell phone-shaped device. Otherwise known as the Bio-Digivice, used by Digimon to take on human form.

* * *

**Notes:**

Names used for Digimon levels are in Japanese format:

Seichouki (Child) -- Rookie

Seijukuki (Adult) -- Champion

Kanzentai (Perfect) -- Ultimate

Kyuukyokutai (Ultimate/Final) -- Mega


End file.
